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ARCHIVE: Eric Volz Case
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Details of Release
After Eric spent more than a year in prison, on Dec. 17, 2007 the Nicaraguan Appellate Court overturned the lower court’s decision and ordered his immediate release. Judge Ivette Toruno, the convicting judge, who was required to sign the release papers circumvented Nicaraguan constitutional law, following orders from the Sandinista Party leaders, stalled Eric's release. She and the president of Appellate Court cooperated in hiding the case file for nearly a week.
Esteban Felix/Associated Press
On December 21, 2007 at 2:00 p.m., after being declared free by the court, then illegally imprisoned for five days, Eric signed his official letter of release. Although Eric is out of Nicaragua, the injustice of Doris’ death and Eric’s legal persecution continues.
Details of Eric’s Release:
In order to accurately understand the ongoing nature of Eric’s case, it is imperative to know that he did not leave Nicaragua of his own volition. He was deported by an order executed from the executive branch of the Nicaraguan government, not by Judicial order.
- The deportation was orchestrated by the Sandinista Political Party in Nicaragua, now in control of the executive branch of the government, so that the case could be taken to the Supreme Court in absentia (in Eric’s absence).
- As modeled after the US penal system, according to Nicaraguan criminal procedure established in 2001, it is illegal for a defendant to be tried in absentia.
- Three senior Appellate Court magistrates spent nine months examining the case file. Two ruled for innocence and the third ruled that the police investigation and trial process were so corrupted that the case must be annulled from its inception. None of the Appellate Court magistrates upheld the original decision of Judge Ivette Toruno Blanco.
- Despite the Appellate Court’s ruling for innocence, and directive that Eric be released immediately, he was illegally held in prison for five days after their ruling, a direct violation of the Nicaraguan Constitution and a grave violation of human rights and international law. The case had become imminently political and was being used as a platform for opposing political groups and their agenda.
- Leonel Teller, spokesman for the Liberal Party in Nicaragua made this public statement just after Eric’s release, “The Liberal Party makes an urgent call to all Democratic political forces to sign an alliance agreement to unite and to take necessary measures because today it is Aleman (former Nicaraguan President), tomorrow Montealegre (former Nicaraguan Presidential candidate), day after tomorrow it can be any of you in the media or any leader. We are before the reestablishment of the dictatorship [refers to Daniel Ortega and the communist left].” They arrested, convicted and took 13 months from Eric Volz of EP Magazine.