216 Year Sentence Given to Protester of Nicaraguan President
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nicaragua-protests/nicaraguan-farmer-who-protested-ortega-gets-216-year-prison-sentence-idUSKCN1Q803P
A farmer who led wide stretching yet hugely unsuccessful protests against President Ortega of Nicaragua, has been given a 216 year sentence, breaking a clause in the country's constitution. He is accused of the murder of 5 police officers who died in the protests along with over 300 other people who were killed as well. The protests were caused in no small part by a widespread disscontempt over a Chinese backed program to build a canal through the country from the Atlantic to Pacific ocean, one which would bulldoze much of the land that people live on in the country. The lawyer of Mairena, the man arrested, says that they wish to seek an appeal to an international court, who they believe will provide an unbiased ruling.
Reuters is a consistently unbiased and reliable source, and this story is no different. It is a total shame to see people exercising the right to protest be greatly shut down and censored, and punished completely unfairly, even violating the country's own constitution. However, it is comforting to see the backing of the international community for the protestors and this clear violation of the unfair punishment of Mr. Mairena. This reminds me of the censorship occurring during the First World War, in which the United States, in some way, violated the right of Freedom of the Press, by preventing anti-war stories from continuing publication due to the supposed danger of such stories.
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