Nicaraguan court relaxes sentence of former president News
Nicaraguan court relaxes sentence of former president

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Nicaragua [official website] has ruled that former Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman [Wikipedia profile], who was sentenced to 20 years in prison [BBC report] in 2003, can leave his home and move freely around Managua, Nicaragua's capital. Aleman was convicted on multiple charges, including money laundering, fraud, embezzlement and electoral crimes, during his 1997-2002 presidency, making him the first Nicaraguan ex-president to be convicted of a crime. Aleman's 20-year sentence has been altered once before due to ongoing health concerns; last year Aleman was allowed to leave his jail cell to serve his sentence at his plantation outside the capital city. The Supreme Court Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that Aleman should be free to move around Managua based on his chronic health care needs. Current President Enrique Bolanos, who himself faces election fraud charges, said that the change in Aleman's sentence was engineered by Aleman's allies on the court. Reuters has more.

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