The peasant leader Medardo Mairena, who in 2018 participated in protests against the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, will pay 216 years in prison for terrorism and other crimes, the Permanent Commission of Human Rights (CPDH) reported Monday.
The penalty was issued in a surprising manner this morning, by the head of the Ninth Criminal Trial Court, Edgard Altamirano, in the Judicial Complex of Managua.
Altamirano, described by Nicaraguan media as a loyal Ortega, ordered in the same trial 210 years in prison for Pedro Mena and 159 for 3 months for Orlando Icabalceta, both peasant leaders who, along with Mairena, participated in anti-government protests since 2013.
“The sentences are laughable, are three times what the prosecution asked, who requested 73 and 63 years, although the maximum penalty in the country is 30 years,” questioned defense lawyer Julio Montenegro, who also said that He was not summoned by Judge Altamirano to attend the hearing.
The peasant leaders were indicted last night for the crimes of terrorism, aggravated robbery, aggravated damages, kidnapping and obstruction of public services.
On December 18, when the peasants were found guilty, Montenegro noted that the judge did not include the final arguments of the case, because he had allegedly drafted the ruling before the hearing began.
The rural leaders, arrested on July 13, are members of the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, the government’s counterpart in a dialogue to overcome the crisis that was suspended indefinitely last July, after pro-government groups, They attacked bishops of the Catholic Church, who acted as mediators.
The protests against Ortega reached its peak between April and July in all of Nicaragua, after which the Government carried out violent actions that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) has identified as crimes “against humanity”.
Since last April, the socio-political crisis in Nicaragua has left between 325 and 561 dead, 340 to 767 detainees, hundreds of disappeared, thousands of wounded and tens of thousands in exile, according to humanitarian agencies.
Ortega recognizes 199 dead and 340 arrested whom he calls “terrorists”, “coup” and “common criminals”. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) and the IACHR have held the Government responsible for “more than 300 deaths,” as well as extrajudicial executions, torture and other abuses against demonstrators and opponents.
Ortega, who has been in power continuously for twelve years, does not accept responsibility for the crisis or the widespread accusations of serious abuses by the authorities against anti-government protesters and claims to be the victim of an attempted
