Another Nicaraguan priest sentenced to 10 years in prison

The regime of Daniel Ortega sentenced Catholic priest Óscar Benavidez Dávila to 10 years in prison after Judge Nancy Aguirre, who presides over the Tenth Criminal District Trial Court of Managua, found the crimes of which the priest was accused of being valid.

Benavidez Dávila, who has been characterized for being critical of the Nicaraguan regime, received a five-year sentence for the crime of “propagation of false news” and another five for having committed “undermining national integrity”, accusations that have become commonplace within the Central American country to silence dissidents at least since 2018.

The 50-year-old religious has been detained since last August when the repressive bodies of the Ortega government apprehended him just after he officiated a mass in the Concepción de María chapel in the Diocese of Siuna (in the north of the country).

The defense argues that Benavidez would be imprisoned only for expressing opinions contrary to the regime through social networks.

On January 16, he had already been found guilty by the Sandinista justice system and was sentenced to eight years. However, the sentence was later extended.

With information from LGI