Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, Nicaragua (on the left), during his hearing on Jan. 10, 2023. / Credit: Judiciary of Nicaragua
CNA Newsroom, Jan 10, 2023 / 17:00 pm (CNA).
Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who has been held under house arrest in Nicaragua by the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, since August 2022, will be put on trial, accused of “conspiracy” and spreading “fake news” against the regime.
In a hearing held today, amid complaints of serious irregularities in the process, the case against Álvarez, of the Diocese of Matagalpa, was referred “to trial.”
According to a statement from the judiciary, “in the Managua Criminal District Courts, the initial hearing of the criminal proceeding was held, in which Rolando José Álvarez Lagos appeared as accused of the crimes of conspiracy to undermine national security and sovereignty and the propagation of fake news through information and communication technologies to the detriment of the Nicaraguan State and society.”
“The judicial authority reviewed the precautionary measures ordered in the preliminary hearing, maintaining house arrest, likewise, admitted the exchange of evidentiary information and referred the case to trial,” the bulletin stated.
The Ortega dictatorship’s judiciary also stated that Father Uriel Antonio Vallejos, who managed to leave Nicaragua and has been living in exile in Costa Rica for a few months, is accused “of the same crimes” for which “the official letter to INTERPOL for his capture remains in effect.”
During the early morning hours of Aug. 19, 2022, the Nicaraguan police broke into the chancery of the Diocese of Matagalpa and arrested Bishop Álvarez, who has been one of the most vocal critics of the dictatorial regime of Daniel Ortega, which has ruled Nicaragua for more than 15 years.
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