Nicaraguan justice on Wednesday (February 2nd) declared political leader Ana Margarita Vigil guilty of conspiracy, on the second day of trials against 46 opponents of President Daniel Ortega, her family said.
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Ana Margarita Vigil, a member of the Democratic Renovating Union, a breakaway party from the ruling Sandinista movement, was convicted for her human rights work, her mother María Josefina Gurdián denounced on her Facebook page. The verdict was rendered after several hours of a trial framed by important security measures in the premises of a prison to which only the defense lawyer and a relative of Ana Margarita Vigil had access, according to her mother.
Ana Margarita Vigil, arrested on June 13, is the first political leader to be convicted of “conspiracy to attack national integrity”under new laws approved by the government of President Ortega at the end of 2020. Two other opponents, Yader Parajón and Yaser Vado were also convicted on Tuesday of the same charge.
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Ms. Vigil is one of 46 opponents arrested and accused last year of attacking national integrity. These opponents, including politicians, students, journalists, businessmen, members of civil society and seven pre-presidential candidates of November 2021, are “criminals and delinquents (…) who promoted and directed terrorist acts and a coup attempt in 2018”says the prosecution.
In total, more than 80 NGOs involved in the promotion and defense of human rights, health, education, culture have been declared illegal since 2018. According to the Nicaraguan authorities, the 2018 protests were an attempt to coup inspired by Washington.
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