A judge in Nicaragua's capital, Managua, on Thursday sentenced two French citizens to eight years in jail, according to a human rights group, on charges of conspiracy amid a wave of convictions against relatives of jailed or exiled opponents.
Jeannine Horvilleur and her daughter Ana Alvarez, the wife and daughter, respectively, of an exiled opposition leader, were arrested last September and charged with conspiracy and undermining the nation's integrity, an accusation that President Daniel Ortega's administration has repeatedly leveled against opponents.
"We repudiate these actions by the regime and the judiciary," the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights said in a statement. "We demand their immediate release because they are innocent."
