Jailed Nicaraguan opposition leader Chamorro, brother found guilty

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MANAGUA — A former Nicaraguan presidential hopeful and her brother were found guilty of several financial crimes late Friday, relatives of the two told Reuters.

Cristiana Chamorro, who was ahead of current President Daniel Ortega in the polls when she was arrested in June 2021, and her brother, former lawmaker Pedro Joaquin Chamorro Barrios, had been outspoken critics of Ortega’s administration until their arrests, which the United States and international human rights groups have denounced as politically motivated.

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The two are the children of former President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, who beat Ortega in the 1990 elections to end his first term. He took office again in 2007 and won re-election a fourth consecutive time last year after many of his opponents were jailed.

Chamorro was convicted of laundering money through a free speech organization she ran, which was dissolved early last year after laws restricting nonprofit operations in the country were passed. Prosecutors said Chamorro received money from abroad through the organization “to destabilize the government.”

She and her brother were also convicted of abusive management and misappropriation and retention of funds. Prosecutors are seeking a 13-year sentence for Chamorro, which she will be able to serve under house arrest. Three former foundation employees were also convicted. Her brother could receive up to seven years in prison.

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Lawyers for Chamorro and her brother had denied the charges.

“My siblings Pedro Joaquin and Cristiana Chamorro proclaimed their innocence in the few minutes they had to speak,” their brother Carlos Chamorro said in a Tweet after the conviction.

Chamorro was arrested the same week as seven other potential political rivals. A total of 46 opponents to leftist Ortega, a former guerrilla commander, were jailed during last year’s elections.

Earlier this week, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet urged Ortega to re-establish a “credible, fair and transparent electoral process” ahead of municipal elections in the Central American country later this year. (Reporting by Ismael Lopez; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Edmund Klamann)