priest faces jail for threatening five people with a weapon

Nicaraguan priest Manuel García was sentenced this Wednesday to two years in prison, becoming the first religious in the country to be criminally prosecuted, local media reported.

Judge Jaime Aguilar determined that the parish priest threatened five people with a weapon on May 30 at the Jesús de Nazareno church in Nandaime, a city located about 70 kilometers south of Managua.

On that occasion, an incident occurred. was recorded by locals who were stationed outside the temple. The visibly irritated priest with a machete yelled at people to refrain from entering the church to mediate an apparent conflict he was having with a woman who was there.

In fact, for this reason, the Nicaraguan justice also maintains another open case against the priest for the alleged crime of violence against the woman identified as Martha Candelaria Rivas, who has also been arrested, according to reports. The newspaper La Prensafor the crime of “false testimony” to the detriment of the State administration of justice after having changed the version of the incidents.

The woman initially appeared in an interview in official media indicating the alleged aggression of the priest, however the woman denied the facts during the preliminary hearing and said that the incident was “accidental”.

García was arrested amid an escalation of persecution undertaken by the government of President Daniel Ortega against religious. He in fact preceded the siege that had been imposed on two more priests, one of them announced a fast to demand an end to the police harassment of which he was a victim.

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