Interview with Police Commissioner Farle Roa, Director of the Judicial Assistance Office
Tortilla con Sal: What is the Judicial Assistance Office and what has been its function within the context of the coup?
Commissioner Farle Roa : The Judicial Assistance Department, is established by law, as the body be in charge of carrying out investigations in the country deemed relevant to it. In context this law indicates and empowers us for those cases deemed relevant in the county such as terrorist attacks. These should be documented and investigated by the Judicial Assistance Office, which is within our competency. What does the Judicial Assistance Office do? It handles investigations based on public accusations, either in writing or via legal procedure. In the course of the investigation it carries out collection of information and investigative procedures as set out in the Code of Criminal Procedure which serve as evidence or proof that is presented to determine the responsibility of the person being investigated for these acts.
We’re talking about terrorism, about financing terrorism, murder, bodily harm, torture, kidnapping that occurred from April 18th to date. We continue to document cases as we are empowered by our Code of Criminal Procedure. Once we complete our files with all the elements of evidence or proof, they are sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office who evaluate bringing a criminal prosecution, once we have presented the case files, within 24 hours. Among these cases, we can point out that from April 18th until now, we have remitted approximately more than 68 cases. Within these 68 cases, as people under arrest we have approximately 204 who have been accused for these acts and who are awaiting trial in the competent courts.
We have already mentioned the crimes committed, such as terrorism, kidnapping, bodily harm. These are the types of crimes that figure in the files we have sent to the Public Prosecutor. Under these barbaric acts of terrorism committed by the coup organizers and elements of the right wing, financed in some cases by the United States, we have 22 dead police officers resulting from reestablishing public order and peace for our population. We have 366 seriously injured police officers. Some have lost parts of their body or part of their arms or legs, as a result of reestablishing public order, and they will be left with these grave and permanent injuries.
Among these terrorist criminals, dedicated to committing terrorist acts, we have actual criminal groups, others who call themselves M19 and others who call themselves “self-organized”. All have the same objective of creating terror and fear , committing acts of torture, arson, damage to public and private property, murder, rape. serious bodily harm to Nicaragua’s population and above all they are attacking Sandinista comrades with the aim of carrying out a coup d’etat.
Among those that we pointed out, in Managua, we have the cases associated with the UPOLI, where we have detained different individuals known as “Viper” Christian Josue. We also have, recently, Ricardo Baltodano Marsenal who belongs to, or identifies with a right wing party and in his capacity as a teacher at the UPOLI permitted vandal groups such as Viper, such as Satan, like Rasta, who are already accused, to take over the UPOLI, with other groups of known criminals, such as the Marijuanitas who devoted themselves to carrying out attacks on the population, causing injuries, commtting torture, destroying public and private institutions, all cases duly documented with evidence, such as witnesses, photographs, identification, such as medical analysis, crime scene inspections, expert appraisals, and ballistic and trace analysis. All of this evidence appears in the investigation records of the 204 people accused of terrorist acts.
Some have already gone to trial, as in the case of journalist Angel Gahona who was killed in Bluefields by these terrorist, coup associated individuals. In such cases, the due process included all the evidence and proof accumulated as evidence by all the investigators and a sentence has already been issued. Other cases are in the process of oral and public trial such as the case of M19 leader Eva Coppens and her partner, Sergio Midence, who just like other organized groups related to theirs, like that of Byron, better known in their ambit as Byrona. The cases are duly documented and are now in the hands of the judges awaiting oral and public trial.
They lead attacks on public and private institutions such as hospitals, such as police offices, such as the office of Attorney General of the Republic, and institutions such as the Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry, as they also led attacks on the population of Leon, knocked down tree-of-life monuments, damaged private property, injured Sandinista comrades, all of this is documented in our files with abundant proof, as we have already pointed out, witnesses, expert analysis, criminal investigators photographs, video, investigative work and processing of the crime scene.
These cases are duly documented for our judges to have available when they carry out the oral and public trial, so we can incorporate all of the evidence available in these cases. We also have other cases such as those in Masaya, led by the Fajardos, by Ricardo Sanarussa, a criminal with antecedents locally. We also have the cases of Carazo, led by the Maldonado family, Thomas and Joaho. We have the cases of the area around San Carlos, Chontales Juigalpa, documented cases involving the group of Medarda Mairena with Pedro Mena. We also have other cases in Chontales where we have Francisco Sequiara, alias Badgrass, and Lenin Salablanca.
All of these cases are groups, some with antecedents, played a leading role, and some financed as we already pointed out from the United States. They are the ones who directed and carried out all the attacks, damage to public property, the murders of our police officer comrades, the injuries that we talked about, which are more than 366, among the other things we mentioned. In these trials, something important that we haven’t pointed out, is that we have evidence including AK-47 automatic rifles. Among the evidence we have rifles, industrial weapons, meaning weapons like pistols, revolvers, artisanal weapons that we know are suitable for firing, and that are effective at over 500 meters, as demonstrated by our criminal investigation experts even thought people may say they are not military grade weapons. but its been shown that yes they are and they are capable of firing so as to cause death, injury and damage. They are destructive weapons. This is fully established by our experts that we have already used to court as in the case of the journalist Gahona. We have also confiscated explosive artifacts among other things that have left our police officers with grave injuries, having lost part of their bodies from these attacks and injuries suffered from explosive devices. They have even lost their lives. This is part of the work we have been carrying out in our investigations as the Judicial Assistance Office.
I repeat, all of these cases passed to the Public Prosecutor’s Offic,e that we have already mentioned are more than 68, with more than 204 people detained, are duly documented for acts of terrorism, for bodily harm, for aggravated robbery, for material damage, for arson, for looting. These are the types of crimes established in our legislation, and some of which as we have said, are awaiting oral and public trial.
TcS: Commissioner, when we were talking earlier, you mentioned the financing of these activities. Is it possible to speak a little about how the three months of terrorism during the coup have been financed?
Commissioner Farle Roa: Yes, as we said, during the investigation process in police searches, we found transfer receipts from the United States of payments made to these people we have detained and we’ve investigated the evidence found in their mobile phones. There these transfers are reflected, as bank statements and as in money in cash. We have the case of the financing in Carazo of those who destroyed the Diriamba police station. We found a large amount of money in dollars, originating from North America, documented, I repeat, through transfer receipts and bank statements. They themselves kept them as proof of what they were receiving and it was coming, as we said, from the United States.
We are proceeding and continue to investigate other cases of terrorism that are already in process. We still have the arrests pending of other terrorist elements, as well as other investigations that are in progress.
