(Reuters) – Nicaraguan prosecutors yesterday charged eight opposition leaders with conspiracy, including three who planned to challenge President Daniel Ortega’s bid to secure a fourth consecutive term in power.
Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, have been criticized by foreign governments as Nicaraguan authorities over the last three months have detained 35 opposition leaders, including presidential hopefuls.
“They are alleged perpetrators of the crime of conspiracy to undermine national integrity,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement.
Among the accused are presidential hopefuls Arturo Cruz, Juan Sebastian Chamorro and Felix Maradiaga, all of whom are incarcerated in a Managua jail.
The attorney general’s office and the legal representatives of the accused did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this week, the attorney general’s office accused prominent journalist Carlos Chamorro, a fierce critic of Ortega, of money laundering, and made new allegations against his siblings Cristiana Chamorro and Pedro Joaquin Chamorro.
Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla and erstwhile Cold War antagonist of the United States, faces an election due in November.
