“This constitutes the most severe repression against the Catholic Church in Latin America since the assassination of Guatemalan Bishop Juan José Gerardi in 1998.”
The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua sentenced on Friday, Feb. 10, the bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez Lagos, to 26 years and four months in prison, charging him with being a “traitor to the homeland.”
The sentence against Álvarez comes just one day after the dictatorship deported 222 political prisoners to the United States.
Álvarez refused to get on the plane with the deportees, Ortega himself said yesterday afternoon in a speech.
The sentence read this afternoon by Judge Héctor Ernesto Ochoa Andino, president of Criminal Chamber 1 of the Managua Court of Appeals, states: “The defendant Rolando José Álvarez Lagos is held to be a traitor to the country.”
“Let it be declared that Rolando José Álvarez Lagos is guilty for being the author of the crimes of undermining national security and sovereignty, spreading fake news news through information technology, obstructing an official in the performance of his duties, aggravated disobedience or contempt of authority, all committed concurrently and to the detriment of society and the State of the Republic of Nicaragua,” the sentence states.
Related: Nicaragua deports priests and seminarians to United States
Detailing each of the charges and their respective penalties, the text adds: “The defendant Rolando José Álvarez Lagos is sentenced to 15 years in prison and perpetual disqualification from exercising public office on behalf of or at the service of the State of Nicaragua.”
“The loss of the convicted person’s citizen rights is declared, which will be perpetual, all of this for being the author of the crime of undermining national security and sovereignty,” the ruling continues.
The sentence also decrees “the loss of Nicaraguan nationality to the sanctioned José Álvarez Lagos, in strict adherence to Law 1145.”
The aforementioned Law 1145, as well as a constitutional reform that allows the loss of nationality of those sentenced for “treason,” was passed by the National Assembly of Nicaragua Feb. 9.
Today’s ruling reads: “The defendant Rolando José Álvarez Lagos is sentenced to five years in prison and an 800-day monetary fine (based on a percentage of his daily salary) for being the author of propagating fake news through information and communication technologies.”
“The penalty in days-of-fine is equivalent to the amount of 56,461 córdobas and 15 centavos (about $1,550).”
Lastly, the judgment sentences the “defendant Rolando José Álvarez Lagos to five years and four months in prison for being the author of aggravated obstruction of the performance of duty of an official to the detriment of the State and the Republic of Nicaragua” and also “one year in prison for being the author of the crime of contempt of authority.”
“The prison sentences will be served successively, so the convicted Rolando José Álvarez Lagos must serve 26 years and four months in prison,” the sentence reads.
The AP offers some helpful background:
The sentence handed down by Octavio Ernesto Rothschuh, chief magistrate of the Managua appeals court, is the longest given to any of Ortega’s opponents over the last couple years.
Álvarez was arrested in August along with several other priests and lay people. When Ortega ordered the mass release of political leaders, priests, students and activists widely considered political prisoners and had some of them put on a flight to Washington Thursday, Alvarez refused to board without being able to consult with other bishops, Ortega said.
Álvarez was arrested in August along with several other priests and lay people. When Ortega ordered the mass release of political leaders, priests, students and activists widely considered political prisoners and had some of them put on a flight to Washington Thursday, Alvarez refused to board without being able to consult with other bishops, Ortega said.
The church is essentially the last independent institution trusted by a large portion of Nicaraguans and that makes it a threat to Ortega’s increasingly authoritarian rule.
Andrew Chesnut, a professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, said Álvarez’s sentence “constitutes the most severe repression against the Catholic Church in Latin America since the assassination of Guatemalan Bishop Juan José Gerardi in 1998.”
“Since first becoming the ruling party in 1979 the Sandinistas have repressed the Catholic Church like few other regimes in Latin America,” Chesnut said. “Pope Francis has refrained from criticizing President Ortega for fear of inflaming the situation, but many believe that now is the time for him to speak out prophetically in defense of the most persecuted Church in Latin America.”
Pope Francis spoke about this during his Angelus on Sunday:
Pope Francis on Sunday issued an appeal to political leaders in Nicaragua to open their hearts to the sincere search for peace and engage in dialogue.
His appeal follows news of the sentencing to imprisonment of the Bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Alvarez, and the expulsion of 222 people who were detained for political reasons. These include several priests and seminarians accused of conspiring against the government.
Expressing great sadness for the news from Nicaragua, the Pope said he thinks with concern of Bishop Alvarez, “whom I love so much,” and who has been sentenced to 26 years in prison.
The Holy Father said he is praying for him, for those who have been deported to the United States, and for all those who suffer in the beloved nation of Nicaragua.
He invited the faithful to join him in prayers to the Lord asking for the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary.
Pope Francis then led the faithful in the recitation of the Hail Mary.
Meanwhile, other clergy around the world have also condemned the arrest and sentence:
Faced with the worsening social and political situation in Nicaragua, and following the expulsion from the country of more than 220 opponents of President Daniel Ortega’s regime and the sentencing of Bishop Rolando Álvarez to more than 26 years in prison, several episcopates from around the world have reacted with concern for, and solidarity with, the citizens and the Catholic Church in that country.
In a Message released on Saturday, the president of the Latin American Bishops’ Council (CELAM), Archbishop Miguel Cabrejos, warned against the weakening of the rights of the Catholic faithful and expressed “solidarity, closeness and prayer with and for the people of God and their pastors.”
“In faith we are comforted by the words of the Gospel: ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because they live according to God’s plan, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’,” writes Archbishop Cabrejos, who is also Archbishop of Trujillo and president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference. The Archbishop announced that, as part of the Central America-Mexico Regional Assembly of the continental phase of the Synod, Holy Mass will be offered in the Cathedral of San Salvador – which houses the relics of Saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero –for the intentions of the Church in Nicaragua.
The Bishops of Chile have also raised their voices, reacting in particular to the Nicaraguan court ruling against Bishop Rolando Álvarez. The Bishop of Matagalpa and Apostolic Administrator of Estelí was accused of “conspiracy to undermine national integrity and propagation of false news through information and communication technologies, to the detriment of the Nicaraguan state and society.”
