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American in hiding after court ruling in Nicaragua

Maggie Anthony, mother of Eric Volz, holds up a sticker that was part of a campaign to free her son imprisoned in Nicaragua, after she arrived at Nashville International Airport in Tennessee, on Friday. PHOTO: AP

American Eric Volz went into hiding on Friday after hastily leaving Nicaragua, where an appeals court overturned his conviction and 30-year-sentence in the slaying of his Nicaraguan girlfriend.

The judge's decision to free Volz sparked outrage among some Nicaraguans who say the American received favorable treatment in the local justice system and should not have been freed.

Volz went into hiding after leaving Nicaragua because of "reports of threats" against him, Volz family spokeswoman Melissa Campbell said in an e-mail.

His mother, Maggie Anthony, arrived back in the US from Nicaragua on Friday evening and said Volz was not yet in the country.

"I'll worry about him until he's on US soil," she said.

Anthony said she could not disclose where he was nor how soon he would return.

The 28-year-old from Nashville, Tennessee, accompanied by Anthony, was freed on Friday from a Nicaraguan prison hospital where he was being treated for kidney stones. He was then driven by police-escorted ambulance to sign his release papers, then rushed to the airport.

"Eric Volz was released from a Nicaraguan prison hospital earlier today and will be in hiding, due to reports of threats against him," Campbell's statement read. "We have reason to believe he is being followed and are taking every precaution to assure [sic] his safety."

Volz left Nicaragua at 2:45pm, US State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said in Washington.

"We are pleased that the Nicaraguan Appeals Court decision ... has been implemented in accordance with Nicaraguan law," he said.

An appeals court on Monday overturned Volz's conviction in the death in November last year of 25-year-old Doris Ivania Jimenez, enraging prosecutors, human rights and women's rights activists who believe Volz is guilty.

Prosecutors said the victim put up a fight, matching scratch marks on Volz's shoulder. They also said he told an assistant to rent a car for him because "someone has died" before he said he learned of her death. The victim's mother said he had threatened to kill her daughter before.

Volz and a Nicaraguan man, Julio Martin Chamorro, were sentenced in February for the death of Jimenez, who was found raped and strangled in a clothing store she owned in Rivas, 86km south of Managua.
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