Nicaraguan justice this Friday ordered the attorney general’s office to dispose of the assets of the 222 released political prisoners who were exiled to the United States on February 9 and later deprived of their nationality.

In a decision by Chamber One of the Court of Appeals of Managua released today, but dated May 19, the Attorney General’s Office “orders all assets that the convicts have registered in their favor in favor of the State of Nicaragua to immobilize and confiscate”. the public records of real estate and commercial property of the country, whether in a personal capacity or as a legal entity”.

In addition to his assets, the resolution of the Court of Appeal of Managua establishes that “whether in his personal character or as a legal entity, he immobilizes and confiscates in favor of the State of Nicaragua all shares and commercial companies held by the convicts”.

According to the magistrates of appeal, this sentence was passed as part of compliance with the “resolutions issued by that criminal chamber 1 Court of Appeal of Managua” last February, in which “The immediate deportation and loss of the Nicaraguan nationality of the 222 people convicted of committing acts that undermine the people’s independence, sovereignty and self-determination, as well as inciting violence, terrorism and economic destabilization, was ordered. “

No nationality or property

Among the 222 dispossessed Nicaraguan prisoners, 7 attempted to challenge the current president, Daniel Ortega, for the presidency.

The dispossessed are Cristiana Chamorro, daughter of former President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997), the aspiring candidate for Nicaragua’s presidency who had the best chance of beating Ortega in the November 2021 elections.

In addition to Chamorro, the list of dispossessed includes the other six opposition leaders who tried to challenge Ortega at the polls: Arturo Cruz, Félix Maradiaga, Juan Sebastián Chamorro, Miguel Mora, Medardo Mairena and Noel Vidaurre.

The list includes legendary ex-guerrilla Dora María Téllez, former foreign minister Francisco Aguirre Sacasa, former deputy foreign ministers Víctor Hugo Tinoco and José Pallais, and former ambassadors Mauricio Díaz and Edgar Parrales.

Also to the business leaders José Adán Aguerri, Michael Healy and Álvaro Vargas, the banker Luis Rivas, the general manager of La Prensa Juan Lorenzo Holmann, the former defense minister Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, and the student leaders Lesther Alemán and Máx Jérez.

There are also human rights defenders, Sandinista dissidents, peasant leaders, priests, journalists, activists and independent professionals.

Nicaragua has been going through a political and social crisis since April 2018, exacerbated after the controversial November 7, 2021 general election, in which Ortega was re-elected to a fifth term, fourth in a row and second jointly with his wife, Rosario Murillo. , as vice president, with her main contenders in prison or exile.