No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeTopicsLatin AmericaNicaragua court finds activists guilty of 'conspiracy'

Nicaragua court finds activists guilty of ‘conspiracy’

A Nicaraguan court Thursday found two prominent opposition figures guilty of “conspiracy,” according to a human rights organization which condemned the trial as “null and void” for taking place behind closed doors.

Former guerrilla Dora Maria Tellez and student leader Lesther Aleman were tried at El Chipote — one of the country’s most notorious prisons where dozens of activists detained in the run-up to last year’s election are being held.

The trial of the Tellez  — a former leftist guerrilla who fought alongside President Daniel Ortega during Nicaragua’s civil war — and Aleman took place behind closed doors, with only a sole family member of each in attendance.

“They were found guilty of forming an association of wrongdoers undermining national integrity,” the independent Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights said.

“The process was null and void because it violated the constitutional guarantees that stipulate that trials must be public and that the press must be able to attend,” it added.

It was not clear what the sentence was, but a member of the opposition Blue and White National Unity party told AFP that magistrates had asked for a 15-year jail term for the 66-year-old Tellez, a historian and one of the founders of the dissident Sandinista Renovation Movement.

Student leader Aleman, 24, rose to fame after publicly calling for Ortega’s resignation during a dialogue between the government and activists involved in 2018 protests.

“His only crime is to have spoken in the name of everyone in 2018, confronting Mr. Ortega with his crimes and demanding he leave office,” journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, speaking from exile in Costa Rica, said on Twitter.

Family of the dozens of activists held since last year have said the opposition figures are suffering from serious health issues, experiencing blackouts and loss of teeth.

Last month the United Nations human rights body urged Nicaragua — Central America’s poorest country — to free people who had been arbitrarily detained and to stop prosecutions and harassment of political opponents, journalists and human rights defenders.

Trending Now

Costa Rica Police Investigate Buried Body as Possible Gringo Tico

Police in Costa Rica are checking if a body dug up from a farm belongs to Daniel Francisco Vargas Salas, a 71-year-old man locals...

Costa Rica 2026 Elections Kick Off: 20 Candidates Vie for Presidency

Costa Rica's electoral season began yesterday with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal's official call for the 2026 national elections. Eugenia Zamora, the TSE president, described...

Costa Rica Court Orders Urgent Regulation of Tuna Fishing Law

Costa Rica's Constitutional Court has stepped in to push the government on a long-delayed tuna fishing law. The court partially backed an appeal from...

Costa Rica Approves Extradition of Ex-Minister Gamboa and Associates

A Costa Rican court has approved the extradition of former Security Minister Celso Gamboa Sánchez to the United States on charges of international cocaine...

Costa Rica Faces a Must-Win for a Place in 2026 World Cup

Costa Rica's national soccer team faces a defining stretch in their bid to reach the 2026 World Cup. With just two points from their...

Back North from Costa Rica: An Expat’s Culture Shock

I am presently away from Costa Rica. I am in a foreign country. I was born here, but it is now a different place...
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica