A Nicaraguan court Friday convicted former presidential candidate Cristiana Chamorro and her brother, Carlos Fernando Chamorro, for money laundering-related offences. They are the children of Nicaragua’s former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.

On May 19, 2021, the Interior Ministry notified Chamorro of a criminal investigation against her for laundering money through the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation. She was accused of using funds to destabilize the country since 2018 and charges were framed under the Law against  Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction of 2018.  She was placed under house arrest on June 2, 2021, a day after she had announced her candidacy for presidency.

Chamorro suspended the foundation’s activities on February 5, 2021 because Nicaragua adopted the Regulation of Foreign Agents Act. Under this law, all entities receiving funding from abroad have to register themselves with the Interior Ministry as “foreign agents” within 60 days. Failure to do so would result in fines, revocation of legal recognition and confiscation of property. These entities are not allowed to participate in “issues activities or matters of internal or external politics,” although penalties are not specified.

The crackdown on political freedom by Daniel Ortega, the current president of Nicaragua, has been heavily criticized from all quarters. After the national elections held in November 2021, EU, US and UK imposed sanctions on Nicaraguan officials linked to the Ortega regime on account of serious human right violations.

The prosecutors are seeking a 13 year sentence for Chamorro and 7 years for her brother.