Rolando Álvarez, in Managua (Nicaragua), on 20 May 2022. Jorge Torres (EFE)
A day after refusing to leave Nicaragua among the 222 political prisoners released by Daniel Ortega’s regime and sent to Washington, Bishop Rolando Álvarez was sentenced to a harsh sentence by the Central American country’s judicial authorities. The Nicaraguan justice system, controlled by Ortega, has sentenced him to more than 26 years in prison for a range of crimes including “treason on the homeland”, “undermining national integrity” and “spreading false news”. The regime has cracked down on the religious, who were stripped of all political rights and stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship.
The verdict was read Friday afternoon in Managua courts by Magistrate Octavio Rothschuh, President of Chamber One of the Court of Appeals. According to the verdict, the government charges Álvarez with a series of crimes enshrined in legislation passed by the National Assembly in 2021 to create a framework to charge and convict those who opposed the Ortega regime. These range from terrorism to treason and disobedience to the authorities.
Álvarez is the most critical voice within the Catholic Church in Nicaragua and has taken positions aggressive against the excesses of Ortega, who has declared him his main enemy and placed him at the center of the persecution of religious. Álvarez had endured harassment and persecution from the police and Ortega’s hosts, bravely resisting government attacks against him. The priest had denounced persecution and harassment, as well as threats, but he resisted from his parish in the north of the country until his arrest last summer. The police confirmed on that occasion that Álvarez, “exploiting his status as a religious leader, using the media and social networks,” tried to organize violent groups “to incite them to hate acts against the population… with the.” Aim to destabilize the state of Nicaragua and attack the constitutional authorities”. The authorities set up a prison for the bishop.
On Thursday, Daniel indicted Ortega Álvarez, whom he accused of “arrogance” for refusing to leave Nicaragua with the 222 political prisoners released by the regime, who were flown to Washington on a plane chartered by the United States government . According to Church sources, police removed the bishop from the building where he was serving house arrest and took him to La Modelo prison on the outskirts of Managua. “Release them, I will pay their fine,” Bishop Álvarez said, according to Catholic sources, referring to the political prisoners who left Nicaragua.
The Nicaraguan President directed his criticism at the bishop when he appeared in chains. Ortega scoffed that the religious’ refusal to leave the country “showed the arrogant behavior of someone who considers himself the head of the Nicaraguan Church, the head of the Latin American Church.” The President said that Álvarez was “treated in an incredible way, like no other prisoner in this country. I’ve been in prison for seven years and I’ve never seen a prisoner in history treated like this man,” the President said. Ortega confirmed that the bishop was transferred to La Modelo prison in a repressive decision “for failing to comply with the rules of the law.”
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