By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MANAGUA (Worthy News) – A leading international court is deliberating on whether to punish Nicaragua after it sentenced 11 Nicaraguan pastors and ministry leaders to prison and forced them to pay millions in fines for spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ in massive evangelism campaigns.
The San José, Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights was asked to “condemn Nicaragua for human rights violations” and hold the government “accountable for its failure to comply with the Court’s previous orders to protect the religious leaders.”
The non-profit Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, which launched the case, recalled that the Christian leaders were “formally sentenced” last March “to between 12 and 15 years in prison and ordered to pay over $80 million in fines per person. “
The legal group hopes that the Court, which has jurisdiction in some 20 countries in the Americas, agrees that the Christians were “fraudulently convicted.”
“No person should be imprisoned or punished for their faith, but that is exactly what has happened with these religious leaders,” the AfD said.
They were among numerous religious and political prisoners held in Nicaragua.
Last July, the Court granted “provisional measures” to the detained leaders, calling for their “immediate release and restoration of contact with their families and legal counsel.”
135 PRISONERS
In September, the U.S. State Department announced the release of 135 prisoners. Among them were the 11 pastors and ministry leaders affiliated with Puerta de la Montaña, the Nicaraguan branch of a U.S.-based Christian group Mountain Gateway Order, Inc., Worthy News learned.
Yet, “These Christian leaders should never have been unjustly imprisoned in the first place, nor expelled from Nicaragua,” said ADF International legal counsel Kristina Hjelkrem.
“The government must be held accountable for the persecution it inflicted on them. The situation in the country remains dire, and we will continue to seek justice for those suffering under the Nicaraguan regime.”
She added, “It’s time for the Court to condemn Nicaragua for its egregious and overt human rights violations.”
However, Nicaraguan Police said the pastors were accused of “money laundering and organized crime.”
The Christian leaders’ group publicly denied the allegations and argued the charges were fabricated as “the authoritarian regime” of Nicaragua felt “threatened” by the success of the evangelistic outreaches.
Supporters said that although the government was unable to produce any evidence of the alleged illicit activity or unlawful funds in court, the pastors were imprisoned for over eight months.
They could not contact their families or their legal counsel but were “set up with government-appointed lawyers” who “failed to provide them with any charging documents or files to prepare a defense adequately,” Christians said.
IMPACT EVANGELISM
Britt Hancock, founder of Mountain Gateway Order, Inc., linked their predicament to the impact of their evangelism in a nation where many apparently search for Christian faith.
“In 2023, Mountain Gateway helped to organize a series of mass evangelism campaigns — eight of them throughout the year,” he said. “We began in February and had the last one in November. But 1,000,000 people in total came to those eight meetings.”
AfD said the Christian leaders are currently in hiding, awaiting the outcome of what could be a precedent-setting case.
Besides AfD, several U.S. Congressional leaders also advocated for their freedom, calling on the then Biden Administration to “implement strong, targeted sanctions following the repeated and escalating violations of religious freedom in Nicaragua.”
ADF International says it is also supporting the case of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison “for preaching on human rights violations perpetrated by the Nicaraguan government.”
Bishop Álvarez, “expelled from Nicaragua for his religious convictions, is now in exile,” AfD added.
“His case continues before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, in the hopes of achieving some measure of justice for the bishop and setting a positive precedent for others facing similar trials in Nicaragua.”
MORE PERSECUTION
Human rights groups fear more pressure on devoted Christians under President Daniel Ortega, who made his political comeback in the 2006 elections, having led Nicaragua through revolution and a civil war before being voted out in 1990.
In 2016, he won a third consecutive term, but observers say his rule has since been marked by a return to authoritarian methods, including the violent suppression of mass protests against pension reforms in 2018.
Ortega and his wife, vice-president Rosario Murillo, received absolute power after loyalist lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment in 2024, elevating her to “co-president.”
The measure effectively increased the couple’s joint control over the nearly seven million-person Central American nation.
Ortega, a left-wing Sandinista leader, had proposed the change, which also increased his control over the media and extended his presidential term from five to six years.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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