(CP) The Nicaraguan judiciary has convicted 11 Nicaraguan pastors linked to the U.S.-based Mountain Gateway ministry on charges of cash laundering. The case, which has caused great controversy within the Central American country and throughout the region, also implicates three U.S. residents who haven’t yet been arrested, based on the prosecutor’s office.
The charges relate to an alleged money laundering network that operated through wire transfers from the U.S. to Nicaragua. The charges got here just weeks after the ministry held a series of massive evangelistic campaigns that organizers said drew greater than 1,000,000 people in various Nicaraguan cities.
The sentence was handed down behind closed doors on the Central Judicial Complex in Managua, where the trial was held.
On Jan. 17, Nicaraguan prosecutors charged three U.S. residents and 11 Nicaraguans with money laundering. These individuals were allegedly a part of a network that used two Christian NGOs as fronts. Prosecutors allege that Americans John Britton Hancock, Jacob Britton Hancock and Casandra Mae Hancock arrange a subsidiary of Mountain Gateway Ministry in Nicaragua to receive wire transfers from the U.S.
In January, Mountain Gateway spokesman Steve Lisby told Christian Daily International that “we imagine the premise of the fees usually are not correct. Everything that we have been required to do by the Nicaraguan government in the way of managing money, we have done that, and we have now the documentation of that. We got here to Nicaragua ’cause we love the people and since we wish to share with them Jesus.”
The organization’s lawyers have denounced this as a case of non secular and political persecution and have requested the intervention of international human rights organizations and even the U.S. State Department.
In a press release, the ministry denounced that the accused pastors weren’t allowed to be physically present in court during one hearing but needed to attend via video conference.
After learning of the decision against the pastors, the Christian legal defense organization ADF International announced that it could take the case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
“ADF International is supporting Mountain Gateway’s case and has filed a request for precautionary measures with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of those fraudulently convicted,” the organization said in a press release. “ADF International has asked the Commission to demand that Nicaragua ensure the appropriate to health, life, and physical integrity of the pastors during their stay in prison, while the proceedings are ongoing.”
According to ADF International, several members of the U.S. Senate, including Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., are also advocating on the group’s behalf, recently calling on the Biden administration to “implement strong, targeted sanctions following the repeated and escalating violations of non secular freedom in Nicaragua.”
“No one is protected from religious persecution in Nicaragua, and it’s devastating to see the sham charges, trial and conviction of those pastors and ministry leaders who were simply sharing their faith with and serving the residents of Nicaragua,” stated Kristina Hjelkrem, legal counsel for ADF International.
