Two former workers of the Violeta Barrios Foundation will remain in prison for 90 days

(CNN Spanish) – The Nicaraguan Judicial Branch reported through a press release published this Saturday on the official website El 19 digital that the judge of the Tenth Criminal Hearing District, Gloria Saavedra, decided this Saturday, May 29, to admit the request of the prosecution for expansion 90-day period to investigate the defendants Walter Antonio Gómez Silva and Marco Antonio Fletes Casco, within the case for alleged laundering of money, property and assets that the Public Ministry opened against the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation

According to the note from the Judiciary, the now defendants Gómez Silva and Fletes Vasco were taken to the Managua courts on Saturday morning, where they appeared before the Tenth Criminal Court of Hearings for the holding of the so-called “Special Hearing for the protection of constitutional guarantees »

According to the note from the Judicial Power, the prosecutor Jean Dylan Rivas asked that “due to the seriousness of the crimes reported, since the crime of laundering money, property, assets, a crime of organized crime, exists the possibility that the accused evade justice and obstruct the investigation, for which the 90-day extension of the period of investigation and judicial detention was requested in accordance with article 253 bis of Law 1060, Reform and addition to the criminal procedure code.

The former director of the Violeta Barrios Foundation, Cristiana Chamorro, reacted on her social networks to the court decision, considering it a “legal monstrosity.” Chamorro stated that “By orders of the dictatorship, the judiciary has not allowed Walter Gómez and Marcos Fletes the right to defense, and announced that they will be detained for up to 90 days.”

According to Chamorro “the partialization of” justice “in Nicaragua (is) in unthinkable extremes, all for a revenge of Ortega, who does not overcome that Violeta Chamorro defeated him in 1990” and added that “Walter and Marcos are innocent.

Relatives and lawyers of Marcos Fletes and Walter Gómez went this Saturday to the headquarters of the Directorate of judicial aid to request information about their location and the state in which they are, but were not attended by any official.

CNN requested information from the National Police about the detainees but they did not respond to our inquiries either.

The Follow-up Mechanism to Nicaragua (MESENI), of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), through its Twitter account condemned this Saturday the detention of Walter Gómez and Marcos Fletes, former collaborators of the Violeta Barrios Foundation. According to the MESENI, the incident was carried out “without a court order or information on the reasons for the arrest.” The MESENI details that the arrests occurred on Friday, May 28, and so far the place of detention is unknown.

On the night of Friday, May 28, through her Twitter account, Cristiana Chamorro had reported the retention of Marcos Fletes by unidentified subjects:

“Deepening the serious violations of the constitutional rights of the former officials of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation, I confirm and denounce that the former accountant Marcos Fletes was kidnapped by paramilitaries.” Chamorro said that until then they were unaware of the location and legal status of Fletes.

Later, in a virtual press conference, Chamorro reported that members of the Police Special Operations Directorate detained Walter Gómez, former financial administrator of the Violeta Barrios foundation. Chamorro said police officers told Gomez’s wife they were seeing her Saturday at the judicial aid address.

Both Marcos Fletes and Walter Gómez are pointed out by the Public Ministry, along with Cristiana Chamorro, of the alleged crime of money laundering, after the institution found evidence of alleged financial inconsistencies in reports presented to the Ministry of the Interior.

This week, at least 18 independent journalists and media directors from Managua, León, Matagalpa and Caribe Sur appeared as witnesses in this case under a heavy police operation.