MEXICO CITY (AFP) – Nicaraguan judges on Monday sentenced a former high-ranking Sandinista official to 13 years in prison for “conspiring to undermine the unity of the nation”.
Victor Hugo Tinoco is one of dozens of opposition leaders who were arrested by President Daniel Ortega last year to clear the way for his re-election virtually unopposed.
Tinoco was deputy foreign minister during the first Sandinista government in 1979 but later split with Ortega. Tinoco also served as Nicaragua’s ambassador to the United Nations and was the main negotiator in peace talks with the US-backed Contras.
The Nicaragua Center for Human Rights said Tinoco, 69, had been ordered to serve 13 years in prison, although some of the older victims of the crackdown were subjected to some form of house arrest.
Authorities ordered home detention of three opposition figures with health problems, a week after another died after months in prison.
Former Foreign Minister Francisco Aguirre-Sacasa, 77, former Deputy Foreign Minister Jose Ballet, 68, and former ambassador to the United States Arturo Cruz Sequeira, 68, were ordered to be confined to the home.
The three were accused of plotting to destabilize the country, a charge brought against dozens of opposition figures.
Hugo Torres, a former Sandinista guerrilla leader who once led a raid that helped free Ortega’s rebels from prison, died a week ago while awaiting trial. He was 73 years old.
The government was condemned internationally for the murder of Torres.
The recent series of trials of opposition figures took place in the notorious Chiboti prison. Only the accused were allowed to have their lawyer present.
Among the opposition leaders jailed last summer are seven potential rivals to Ortega for the presidency. With them all in custody, he managed to win a fourth consecutive presidential term in a November election that was widely criticized by the international community.
Thousands have fled into exile since Nicaraguan security forces violently suppressed anti-government protests in 2018. Ortega says the protests were in fact a foreign-backed coup attempt, and many of those on trial have been accused of working with foreign powers to oust him or encouraging foreign countries to impose sanctions on individuals his family and the government.
