Nicaragua Acts to Give Foes Longer Jail Terms

The Sandinista government has taken steps to increase the prison terms of opposition figures already tried and sentenced for taking part in a protest march that ended violently, and they now may face up to six years in prison, defense lawyers and a government prosecutor said Thursday.

The demonstrators were already sentenced to six months in jail but are being charged now with additional crimes that carry stiffer penalties.

The legal maneuvering was the latest indication that the government has decided not to tolerate certain opposition activity it considers subversive.

At least 39 people were arrested July 10 in the town of Nandaime, 25 miles south of Managua, after police used tear gas and clubs to break up an anti-government march.

The incident signaled the start of a weeklong crackdown on the Sandinistas’ political opposition, including the expulsion of the American ambassador, the closing of two opposition media outlets and confiscation of the country’s largest private business, the San Antonio Sugar Refinery.

A police judge quickly sentenced the people arrested, including four top leaders of a U.S.-favored opposition coalition, to six months in jail.

That sentence was revoked this week, however, when authorities said they considered the offenses too serious for a police judge’s jurisdiction.

Instead, the demonstrators will be tried on other charges that carry penalties ranging from one to six years, government prosecutor Ivan Membreno said in a telephone interview from the city of Granada, where the accused are being held.

It was unclear whether all 39 would face the full battery of charges, which include inciting to commit a crime, damaging public property and inflicting injuries. A verdict could be handed down within 10 days; if a participant is found innocent, he or she would be released.

By elevating the jurisdiction of the cases against the opposition activists, the leftist Sandinista government can create an appearance of following judicial procedures while clearing the way for tougher jail terms, said Lino Hernandez, head of an anti-Sandinista human rights organization.

“This is to further terrorize and intimidate domestic political leaders and their followers,” said defense lawyer Enrique Sotelo Borgen.

Gilda Guevara, the wife of one of the detained men, lawyer Roger Guevara, visited the prisoners Thursday and said they appeared in good condition. She held out hope that the government would make the “political decision” to free the group.

The government has contended that the organizers of the Nandaime protest were being egged on by U.S. Embassy officials. The demonstration came at a time of rising discontent in Nicaragua, and the government apparently acted to put a lid on further unrest.

Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry reported new violations of a temporary truce between government troops and the anti-Sandinista Contras.

The ministry said seven people were killed in a Contra attack on a farming cooperative in two ambushes last Tuesday in central Matagalpa province. The information could not be verified independently, but both sides have reported numerous violations of the cease-fire, in effect since late March.