Managua, February 8, 2022. In a trial plagued by irregularities and human rights violations, the government of Daniel Ortega declared Nicaraguan sports journalist Miguel Mendoza guilty of undermining national integrity. The prosecutor demands a 9-years prison sentence. The final verdict will be read next week.
The Nicaraguan Police arrested Mendoza on June 21th, 2021, under suspicion of acts against the sovereignty of Nicaragua and under accusations of committing cybercrimes for his political opinions on his social media accounts. Before his arbitrary detention, Mendoza worked for 25 years as a sports broadcaster and commentator for La Doble Jugada at Radio Católica and Channel 2. As a well-known sportswriter, he had a large social media audience with over 116.000 followers on Facebook and 27.000 on Twitter. His crime was to criticize the Ortega-Murillo government.
Like the 40 political prisoners arbitrarily detained since mid-2021, he has been subjected to torture, deprived of sleep and food. During the last seven months of illegal detention, his family and lawyer had only counted occasions to visit him. His trial was conducted in a prison known as “El Chipote”.
Miguel Mendoza was born in Camoapa and has 10 siblings. He is married and has a 7- years old daughter.
Fundamedios strongly condemns the judicial harassment against Miguel Mendoza and the 170 political prisoners and demands their immediate release. These arbitrary trials are plagued with human rights violations and seek to silence a whole country terrorized by an authoritarian and bloodthirsty regime.