Father Oscar Danilo Benavidez Dávila was sentenced to ten years in prison by the dictatorship in Nicaragua, which is run by President Daniel Ortega, for allegedly "conspiring" and "spreading false information" against the government.
The Managua Tenth Criminal Trial District Court, presided over by Judge Nancy Aguirre, sentenced the priest on January 24. Despacho 505, a news outlet, was given access to the behind-closed-doors verdict and reported this on February 4.
The priest was sentenced to five years in prison for "spreading fake news" and an additional five for "undermining national security and sovereignty," according to the ruling, after a trial marred by irregularities.
The Catholic priest was also fined 49,917 cordobas, or roughly $1,350.
Benavidez, 50, a well-known opponent of the dictatorship, has been detained since he was taken into custody on August 14, 2022, following a Mass in the chapel dedicated to the Conception of Mary in the Diocese of Siuna.
On January 16, he was found guilty, and the state prosecution asked for an eight-year prison term. But the judge gave him a 10-year term.
For "conspiracy and cybercrimes, crimes invented by the regime of Daniel Ortega and [his wife, Vice President] Rosario Murillo to imprison opponents," according to Despacho 505, Benavidez is the first priest to receive a sentence.
The priest's defense stated that the alleged "crime" he committed during the trial was airing his views in a social media post.
The only trial hearing, according to the Nicaraguan news source Mosaico, lasted less than eight hours on January 16.
The dictatorship has charged nine members of the Nicaraguan clergy with "conspiracy," including Bishop Rolando Lvarez, who was detained alongside other priests on August 19, 2022, around three in the morning.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) recently approved a report from the Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners (MRPP), which stated that as of January 2023, there were 245 political prisoners in Nicaragua.
Source: Catholic News Agency