Four Nicaraguan priests, two seminarians, and a cameraman will be tried for the crimes of conspiracy to undermine national integrity and spreading false news to the detriment of the Nicaraguan State and society, the national judiciary revealed Tuesday.
The group of seven religious and lay people were abducted early Friday, August 19, together with Bishop Rolando Álvarez, and have been held in prison ever since.
Police officers under the authority of dictator Daniel Ortega carried out the arrest at the bishop’s residence in the northern Nicaraguan diocese of Matagalpa after confining the bishop to house arrest for two weeks.
The names of the four accused priests are: Fathers Ramiro Reynaldo Tijerino Chávez, rector of the Juan Pablo II University and pastor of the parish of San Juan Bautista; José Luis Díaz Cruz and Sadiel Antonio Eugarrios Cano, vicars of the Matagalpa Cathedral of San Pedro; and Raúl Antonio Vega González.
The seminarians are Darvin Esteylin Leiva Mendoza and Melkin Antonio Centeno Sequeira, and the cameraman is Sergio José Cárdenas Flores.
Judge Nalia Nadezha Úbeda Obando, who is trying the case, has summoned the parties for an initial hearing for next Friday morning, according to the judiciary.
The accusation against the seven was presented by the assistant prosecutor Manuel de Jesús Rugama Peña on September 21 but was just made public this week.
The trial of the seven is the latest assault on the Catholic Church by Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega, who has lashed out at priests and bishops who challenge government abuses.
On September 28, Ortega conducted a radio and television broadcast in which he accused the Church of having “used its bishops in Nicaragua to stage a coup” against the Sandinista regime.
Ortega insisted that the Church is hypocritical to question Nicaraguan democracy when priests and bishops are not democratically elected and called the Church a “perfect dictatorship.”
“A coup d’état, an institution like the Catholic Church, using its bishops here in Nicaragua to carry out a coup d’état. Since when are priests ready to stage a coup? And since when do they have the authority to speak of democracy?” Ortega said.
Ortega also accused the Catholic Church of covering for “a gang of assassins” that allegedly tried to assassinate him and overthrow the Sandinista regime during the 2018 pro-democracy protests.
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