Freed American felt like pawn in political game

An American just released from a Nicaraguan prison after a judge ruled he could not have killed his ex-girlfriend said in an exclusive interview Thursday that he feared for his life every day and believes the government of the Central American country used him as a pawn in a game of international political chess.

“Believe it or not, it’s because they knew I was innocent,” Eric Volz told Meredith Vieira when the TODAY co-host asked him why he was convicted last February of the rape and murder of Doris Ivania Jimenez. “It’s a way to create diplomatic tension so you can bargain other bilateral negotiations that may be pending.”

The United States’ relationship with Nicaragua is strained, at best. And after Volz and another man were charged with killing Jimenez, who owned a dress shop in the coastal resort town of San Juan del Sur, the Nicaraguan papers played to the gathering mobs and started referring to Volz as “the gringo.”

Appearing on TODAY with his mother, who worked tirelessly to free him, Volz described prison as the “waiting room to Hell.” He said he feared for his life, was treated poorly and was not given adequate medical attention.

“Prison is deadly,” he said. “It’s very dangerous ... It just chips away at you a little bit at a time. I saw people die in prison for lack of medical attention or simple neglect.”

Still, Volz said he loved the country and enjoyed its people, and would go back if the situation there wasn’t so dangerous.

“There’s a lot of good people there,” said Volz, in his first live interview since being released from prison and spirited out of the Central American nation on Dec. 21. “It’s a beautiful country. There’s a lot of people working very hard to achieve a democratic and prosperous Nicaragua, and we have a lot of great friends. I have no resentment toward the Nicaraguan people.”

Adjusting to freedom after 394 days in the Nicaraguan prison system has not been easy.

“It’s been a struggle re-entering the free world. It’s a lot harder than one would think,” he told Vieira. “Every day I feel better. Physically I feel stronger, and I feel lighter every day.”

Alibi was of no help
A judge convicted Volz of killing his former girlfriend despite testimony that he was two hours away in the capital city of Managua, where he lived and published EP Magazine, a bilingual publication that promoted sustainable ecotourism.

The judge who found Volz guilty, Ivette Toruno Blanco, refused to consider evidence from witnesses and cell phone records that placed Volz in Managua at the time the murder was committed. She also found him guilty of rape despite the fact that investigators found no evidence that the victim had been sexually assaulted. No forensic evidence connected him to the crime.

An appeals court, in a 2-1 decision, ordered him released immediately in mid-December, but he was held another week as Judge Blanco avoided signing his release papers, citing various problems and irregularities, including a flat tire and improper numbering of the pages in the court documents.

One of the appellate judges who spoke out for Volz, Robert Rodriguez, told NBC News in a story reported by Kerry Sanders that he has been threatened because of his actions.

“I know my job is in jeopardy, my life is in jeopardy,” he said, adding that he voted to free Volz “because I couldn’t live with my conscience.”

Volz said the climate in Nicaragua concerning his case was dangerous for anyone who tried to help him. When he was arrested for the crime, he was dubbed “the gringo murderer” in the local media and had to be escorted into the courthouse by squads of armed police through angry crowds of local demonstrators.

“They really played up the mob mentality and kind of opened old wounds of the controversial history between the U.S. and Nicaragua,” Volz told Vieira. “It really consolidated me as a political prisoner and that’s why it was so hard for me to get out.”

While he was still being held after being declared innocent by the appeals court, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had publicly called on the Nicaraguan government to release him.

His mother, Maggie Anthony, said that Rice’s pressure helped get her son out of jail along with the efforts of Rodriguez and many others advocating for Volz. But Rice, she said, “really helped turn the tide.”

While he was in prison, Volz said he didn’t know how much his mother and others were doing to get him out. “Not until now I’m free and I’m able to hear the stories from friends and other family, I wasn’t really aware of the magnitude of the release effort that was happening on my behalf,” he said.

Although free, Volz is staying in an undisclosed location because he says he still fears for his life. When he was released from prison, he was driven to an airport pursued by Nicaraguan reporters with the fervor of American paparazzi on the trail of Britney Spears.

Boarding a small plane and flying to freedom, he said, “was a surreal moment. I couldn’t believe that it was happening. I still can’t believe that I‘m not there. It’s surreal.”

Volz said that he didn’t leave the country voluntarily, but was ordered deported by Ortega’s government. In the meantime, prosecutors have appealed his case to the nation’s Supreme Court, seeking to have the conviction reinstated.

“I was illegally deported, and now I’m being tried in my absence,” Volz said. “The deportation was ordered by the executive branch of the government, and they essentially just had to get me out of their hair, get me out of the country because the case was getting too big and their lies were being exposed.”

One other man, Nicaraguan Julio Chamorro, was also convicted of Jimenez’s murder, but, Volz said, there are others who were involved who have not been brought to justice. He said their identities are common knowledge in Nicaragua.

“The man that’s currently in jail participated in Doris’ murder, but there are still others — the main perpetrator and other people who have yet to be brought to justice,” he said. Prosecuting them, he said, “is up to the Nicaraguan authorities.”

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