by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - An American missionary has met with senior officials at the US State Department in an effort to secure the release of 11 pastors imprisoned in Nicaragua on trumped up charges of money laundering and organized crime, CBN News reports. Britt Hancock of the US-based Mountain Gateway missionary organization made his recent appeal to lawmakers in Washington even as he himself also faces criminal charges in the matter.
The case arose after Hancock and his local Mountain Gateway colleagues last year held evangelical events in Nicaragua which drew up to one million people. Weeks after the final event, the government arrested and charged the Nicaraguan pastors who had been involved in the events, as well as Hancock, his son Jacob, and daughter-in-law Cassie. While the Americans were able to leave the country on bail, the Nicaraguans remain in prison at unknown locations and in unknown physical conditions.
"We're totally innocent of those charges," Britt told CBN News. "Money laundering – there has to be a crime on the front end to obtain the money illegally, and so all of the money that we put into Nicaragua came from our donor base. So there's no underlying crime there, and we certainly are not organized crime bosses.”
In a separate statement earlier this year, Mountain Gateway said: "These charges are based on erroneous information” and added that the ministry will “do everything in its power to resolve this through diplomatic channels."
Concerning his appeal for help in Washington, Hancock told CBN News: "I met with high people at the State Department who are very concerned over the situation in Nicaragua…they're telling me that they're concerned over the lack of attention surrounding Nicaragua's recent behavior about persecution against religious institutions and individuals and violations of human rights."
"Pray for our team; pray that God moves to release those held in prison in a broad way," Hancock added. "Pray that God changes the environment in Nicaragua, that freedom can reign..."