Opponent of Ortega, editor of Nicaragua’s largest newspaper, sentenced to 9 years in prison

The Nicaraguan justice sentenced, this Friday (1st), the director of the local newspaper La Prensa, Juan Lorenzo Holmann, to nine years in prison, for money laundering. The condemnation is one more in the midst of the wave of persecution of critics of the dictatorship implemented by the leftist Daniel Ortega.

The judge in charge of the case also ordered that the newspaper’s facilities remain closed, as well as the printers responsible for printing the periodical. In the decision, however, the magistrate did not specify the time in which places must keep their doors closed. Currently, La Prensa publishes the news only digitally, with few staff and resources, after its bank accounts were blocked.

Holmann was arrested in August, three months before elections that secured Ortega’s fourth consecutive term. At the time, the journalist was the 33rd opponent of the dictatorship to be arrested – currently, there are 46. His conviction had already been announced last month, but it was only this Friday that the sentence was announced.

“I am innocent and strong. This will pass very soon,” he said after hearing his sentence, according to La Prensa. His defense argued that there is no evidence that Holmann committed a crime and called the trial “political”.

The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh), an NGO that monitors cases against opponents, also condemned the verdict. Of the 46 opponents arrested, at least 42 were found guilty in trials and 40 of them were sentenced to up to 13 years in prison.

Also this month, the Nicaraguan justice convicted, for money laundering, the vice president of La Prensa, Cristiana Chamorro, who last year declared herself a pre-candidate for the presidency – the sentence is similar to that of her colleague: 8 years. In addition to her, her brother Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, a former deputy and who is now also on the newspaper’s board, was found guilty.

Both are part of an influential Nicaraguan political family. His mother, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, ruled the country between 1990 and 1997 and even defeated the current dictator at the polls. In June of last year, when she was arrested, Cristiana was ahead of Daniel Ortega in the polls. She is currently serving her sentence under house arrest.

Amid arrests of opponents, the November elections were not recognized by much of the international community. At the time, Ortega ran against five other candidates, all considered a front, as they were allies of the dictatorship. In the end, he got 76% of the vote, according to official results.

As a way of putting pressure on the dictatorship, the US and the European Union in January expanded economic and diplomatic sanctions against officials linked to Ortega. The Europeans announced the freezing of assets and the imposition of a veto on the travel of two of the dictator’s sons and five other people linked to the regime, the police, the Supreme Electoral Council and the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Posts.

Daniel Ortega, 76, has been in charge of Nicaragua since 2007 and his wife, Rosario Murillo, is his deputy. The repression against critics intensified in 2018, when more than 300 protesters were killed in clashes with security forces and paramilitary groups aligned with the dictator.

At the end of March, the country’s ambassador to the OAS (Organization of American States) rebelled against the government and accused the regime of being a dictatorship that disrespects human rights and suffocates the population. Arturo McFields Yescas had been appointed in November 2021, therefore under the approval of the Ortega administration.

“Denouncing the dictatorship of my country is not easy, but defending the indefensible is impossible. I have to speak out, even if I am afraid, and even if my future and that of my family are uncertain,” he said at the time.

In his speech, he cited the lack of press freedom in Nicaragua and said that his country “has become the only one where there are no printed newspapers, there is no freedom to publish on social networks, there are no human rights organizations and there are no independent political parties.” “.