Nicaragua sentences former Sandinista official to 13 years in prison

Nicaragua sentenced a former Sandinista official to 13 years in prison with charges of "inciting foreign interference in internal affairs" and "calling for military interventions" against the government of Daniel Ortega, reported the Nicaraguan police on Sunday.

In November, Tinoco was arrested along with 46 opposition leaders last year ahead of the Central American country’s presidential elections. Most of the opposition was accused of conspiring to destabilize the country.

With the arrest of potential candidates for the presidency and opposition leaders, Ortega was elected as president of Nicaragua for the fourth consecutive time. The international community criticized the presidential elections and deemed them illegal.

In June of 2021, Nicaraguan authorities accused Victor Hugo Tinoco, 69, of "carrying out acts that undermine independence, sovereignty, and self-determination, inciting foreign interference in internal affairs, and requesting military interventions." As well as "organizing with financing from foreign powers to carry out acts of terrorism and destabilization, proposing and managing economic, commercial and financial blockades against the country and its institutions" and "demanding, exalting and applauding the imposition of sanctions against the State of Nicaragua and its citizens, and harming the supreme interests of the nation."

Tinoco served as Nicaragua’s deputy foreign affairs minister from 1979 to 1990 and the country’s ambassador to the U.S. However, after decades of working together, Tinoco split with Ortega.

Nicaraguan authorities also sentenced student leader Max Jerez to 13 years of prison along with Tinoco. Jeréz, was one of the student leaders of the Nicaraguan University Alliance (AUN), who participated in the 2018 protests calling for the resignation of Ortega.