Nicaraguan judges skirt ruling deadline in Jason Puracal appeal
Sep 4, 2012, 10:21 AM | Updated: 11:46 am
A three-judge appellate panel in Granada, Nicaragua was to issue a ruling before 9 a.m. CST, 10 working days after Jason Puracal's appeal hearing ended. (Photo: Tim Rogers/Nicaragua Dispatch)
(Photo: Tim Rogers/Nicaragua Dispatch)
As supporters of Jason Puracal waited for a ruling in his appeal Tuesday morning, the deadline for a decision quietly passed.
A three-judge appellate panel in Granada, Nicaragua was to issue a ruling before 9 a.m. CST, 10 working days after the appeal hearing ended.
Puracal, 35, was arrested in the resort village of San Juan del Sur on November 11, 2010. Along with 10 Nicaraguans, he was accused of operating a drug trafficking ring that brought cocaine up from Costa Rica.
On Aug. 29, 2011, Puracal was convicted of drug trafficking, money laundering, and organized crime. He is serving a 22-year sentence in a prison near the capitol city of Managua.
The Tacoma-native and University of Washington graduate has maintained his innocence.
The David House Agency, an international crisis resource organization working on the Puracal case, released the following statement Tuesday morning.
“Today at 9 a.m. local time, the deadline passed for the Nicaraguan courts to rule on the appeal filed by Jason Puracal. It has been more than a year since his wrongful conviction and nearly two years since his detention – which has been condemned by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. According to Nicaragua law, a decision was to be issued within 5 days of the appeal hearing recess. The prosecution took the extraordinary step of asking for double the required time and the courts granted it, but still failed to deliver a decision. Jason remains a hostage in the infamous La Modelo prison. Jason’s family will continue to fight for his release.”
Last week, Puracal’s sister said she was “cautiously optimistic” that the conviction would be overturned.
“The first thing he’s going to want to do is come home and sleep in his warm bed, have a big meal with his family, and take a hot shower,” Janis Puracal said. “We’re going to want to take him out to some of his favorite restaurants and take him to see some of his best friends up here who are all waiting anxiously for him to come home.”
In recent months, the Nicaraguan government has been under increasing pressure to release Puracal.
In a letter sent to President Daniel Ortega in May, 43 members of U.S. Congress urged the leader to order an independent review of the case. Earlier, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Puracal’s conviction was in violation of international law.
