Hasenfus Enters a Not Guilty Plea

An attorney for captured American Eugene Hasenfus entered a not guilty plea Thursday to charges of terrorism, subversion and criminal association and then challenged the Nicaraguan government’s right to try Hasenfus in the Popular Anti-Somocista Tribunal.

In a statement submitted to the court, attorney Enrique Sotelo Borgen also attacked the validity of Hasenfus’ signed confession, saying that it was made without the presence of an attorney while he was in military custody.

Sotelo said he received copies of the written charges against his client only Wednesday and had not had adequate time to prepare his case. Former U.S. Atty. Gen. Griffin Bell was expected to arrive in Managua overnight to advise Sotelo on the case.

Hasenfus, 45, was shot down Oct. 5 in a C-123 cargo plane carrying arms and ammunition to U.S.-backed contras fighting Managua’s Sandinista regime in the countryside. Two other Americans and an unidentified Nicaraguan died in the downed aircraft. Hasenfus, who parachuted to safety, was captured the next day in southern Nicaragua.

Television Interviews

Despite his not guilty plea, Hasenfus has said in U.S. television interviews that he is guilty of taking part in the operation to supply the contras. He also has said he believed the operation was backed by the CIA.

Hasenfus was formally charged Monday with violation of the law on public order and security, with terrorism and with illicit association for criminal purposes. With the Hasenfus case, the Nicaraguan government has indicated it is also trying the United States for supporting the contras’ insurgency.

In his statement, read aloud to reporters by an associate, Sotelo charged that the Anti-Somocista Tribunal is “prejudiced.” The court, established by the Sandinistas to try political cases and presided over by Sandinista party militants, has a conviction rate of at least 90%, Sotelo said.

“They are trying my client as a Somocista,” Sotelo said. “My client could never have been a Somocista. Somocism ended the day Somoza fell.”

Dictator’s Overthrow

Dictator Anastasio Somoza was overthrown at the climax of a popular uprising in July, 1979, opening the way to power for the Marxist-led Sandinista government. Somoza’s brother and father had governed the country before him, and today’s rebel fighters number many former members of the National Guard under Somoza.

“My defendant is not a delinquent. He is a worker for a legally constituted air company,” Sotelo said, referring to Corporate Air Transport, the operator of record of the flight that was shot down.

Sotelo said that Justice Minister Rodrigo Reyes did not have the legal authority to prosecute Hasenfus. He called the indictment of Hasenfus “legal rubbish which manifestly puts to shame the tribunals of this country.”

He said that Hasenfus’ confession “has no value at all” because of the circumstances under which it was obtained. In the confession, signed Oct. 17, Hasenfus admitted that the C-123, downed by Sandinista soldiers with a Soviet-made missile, was flying from Ilopango military air base in El Salvador with 10,000 pounds of small arms and ammunition destined for the contras.

‘Evidence Is Irrefutable’

Reyes said in an interview that he does not need the confession to win the case.

“The evidence is irrefutable,” Reyes said. “We have Hasenfus, the airplane, the arms, videos (of his capture) and the documents from the airplane.”

The justice minister said he would seek the maximum sentence of 30 years if Hasenfus is convicted.

Now that Hasenfus’ plea has been entered, the tribunal gives both sides eight days to present their cases. Either the prosecution or the defense may request a four-day extension, and then the three-member court has three days to render a verdict and pronounce sentence.