Nicaragua’s anti-clerical Government has sentenced 11 Christian leaders to between 12 and 15 years in prison each and ordered to pay $880 million.
They have also been barred from having contact with their families and lawyers.
The trial took place in wake of the leaders’ success in bringing together thousands of people to pray in public venues, which the far-left Sandinista regime apparently perceived as a threat.
According to Statista, Nicaragua is about 45% Catholic with close to 38% of the people belonging to various Protestant groups.
The sentence is for “sham charges of money laundering,” according to a press release from ADF International, an organisation that defends religious freedom and has taken up the legal defense of the 11 leaders. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International has already taken the case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
