The communist dictator of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, is preparing a change to the country’s criminal code to expand his ability to seize assets en masse and impose lifetime prison sentences on dissidents, including those abroad.
Ortega presented the proposed change to the Nicaraguan National Assembly on Thursday — a formality, as the legislative body is fully stacked with loyalist lawmakers. The change is expected to be approved as early as Tuesday, September 3, according to local outlets.
It will modify 27 articles of the Nicaraguan criminal code. One of the main modifications, the local newspaper Confidencial explained, will be the introduction of the “principle of universality,” which means that Nicaraguan criminal laws will also be applicable to Nicaraguans or foreigners who have committed crimes such as money laundering and terrorism while outside of Nicaraguan territory.
Confidencial pointed out that the Ortega regime has utilized accusations of alleged terrorism, money laundering, and other purported crimes to persecute and imprison dissidents in the past. It has also seized the assets of some 5500 non-governmental organizations in the country through similar accusations.
The modifications will reportedly introduce prison sentences of ten to 15 years for those who call for international sanctions against the Ortega regime, its businesses, or any of its officials. The soon-to-be approved proposal will also increase prison sentences for what the Ortega regime defines as “treason” to a maximum of 30 years. In addition, Ortega’s anti-dissident criminal modifications will allow the communist regime to prosecute dissidents in absentia.
Nicaraguan opposition politician Felix Maradiaga described the upcoming changes to Confidencial as “a dangerous escalation” in the Ortega regime’s repressive strategy.
“This change not only seeks to expand the regime’s ability to persecute opponents within Nicaragua, but also extends its reach beyond national borders, becoming a weapon of transnational repression,” Maradiaga said.
“Ortega is no longer satisfied with imprisoning and expelling the most uncomfortable dissidents, he now intends to try to confiscate the assets of those in exile, expanding his ability to silence the opposition anywhere in the world,” he continued.
Former Nicaraguan lawmaker Eliseo Núñez pointed out to the Nicaraguan newspaper 100% Noticias that any person accused of money laundering, ranging from dissidents to bottom managers of non-governmental organizations, could be sentenced to life imprisonment with the new changes.
“They are putting in there the issue of money laundering and life imprisonment which was not in the Penal Code,” Núñez said. “It must be remembered that the recent constitutional reform establishes that life imprisonment is only for heinous crimes, etcetera, and now they are putting it in the issue of laundering, which is serious.”
Núñez emphasized that most of Ortega’s dissidents and non-governmental organizations have been accused by the communist regime of “money laundering,” which is why he considers that the changes will increase criminalization of the dictator’s opponents.
“The financial relationship that one could have with foreign agents is already criminalized through the Law of Foreign Agents and now they are imposing a penalty that was only reserved for atrocious crimes and other types of crimes and now it is for money laundering,” Núñez stressed.
The former lawmaker said that he does not rule out that the Ortega regime will apply the new laws against its own people.
“They are now on a crusade against themselves – that is, they are also going to use this against their own people. Nobody in that country, even if they declare themselves Ortega supporters or followers of Rosario [Murillo, Ortega’s wife and vice president], nobody is safe,” Núñez said. “So this is designed for those who remain in there, but mainly it is designed for the few NGOs that are still functioning, which are very few.”
Nicaraguan lawyer and human rights activist Yonarqui Martínez told 100% Noticias that the ability to hold trials in absentia against dissidents that the changes will introduce violates the right of due process and will facilitate the confiscation of the dissidents’ properties without a final sentence.
“The novelty is that they are going to judge people who are outside the country, and what kind of evidence the Prosecutor’s Office is going to legalize and it will have the force, it will be valid evidence in trial if you are supposedly committing a crime outside the country,” Martínez said.
The lawyer said the reform will “simplify and perfect” the violation of the right to property of Nicaraguans.
“In fact, they have been taking properties without even trying people, because let’s remember that many people were imprisoned, expelled and [their property] confiscate; now they come without a firm sentence,” Martínez pointed out.
Ortega has dramatically increased his repression of dissidents since the 2018 wave of anti-communist protests, when thousands took to the streets to demand an end to the Ortega regime’s decades-long authoritarian rule of Nicaragua.
In recent years, Ortega has banished dozens of dissidents, seizing their assets and stripping them of their Nicaraguan nationality, rendering them stateless persons in clear violation of international law.
Ortega has also launched a brutal persecution campaign against the Nicaraguan Catholic Church as punishment for its leaders’ support of the anti-communist protesters in 2018. Ortega’s persecution of Catholicism in the country has resulted in the banishment of several of its members, the unjust imprisonment of its priests, the banning of most Catholic processions and traditional festivities, and the forced closure and seizure of Catholic media and universities in the country.
The communist dictator’s crackdown and repression of dissidents most notably features the ongoing aid of Russia, which has assisted Ortega with “retraining” the Nicaraguan police to bolster their repressive capabilities and the installation of a Russian-operated spy center in the Central American nation.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here
