They were falsely accused of money laundering and sentenced to jail penalties ranging from twelve to fifteen years.
by Massimo Introvigne
On July 2, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights ordered Nicaragua to immediately release a number of prisoners of conscience. They include a young man who shouted “Up with the Catholic Church” during a Mass and eleven pastors and ministry leaders of Puerta de la Montaña, the Nicaraguan branch of an American organization training Protestant ministers and managing their evangelistic activities.
On December 18, 2023, the Nicaraguan police raided Puerta de la Montaña and arrested eleven of its leaders, under fabricated accusations of money laundering.
On December 20, 2023, the organization was legally dissolved and banned. On March 19, 2024, the defendants were sentenced to jail penalties ranging from twelve to fifteen years in addition to million-dollar fines.
On April 21, 2024 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, following a request by Alliance Defending Freedom, ordered Nicaragua to “adopt the necessary measures to protect the rights to life, personal integrity and the health of the eleven religious leaders,” to allow them full access to their lawyers, and to report to the Commission on the circumstances of the case.
The Inter-American Court on Human Rights noted that the request of the Commission was ignored and that the health of the Puerta de la Montaña leaders, who are submitted to a harsh jail regime, is deteriorating.
The Court has now ordered the “immediate release” of the prisoners. Whether Nicaragua will comply with the order is a different matter.
Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press’ Nova Religio. From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the “Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions” of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.
