U.S. citizen Jason Puracal was recently released from a Nicaraguan prison after he was wrongly accused of drug trafficking and money laundering. He served two years of his 22 year sentence, all the while trying to clear his name. His case gained international attention from human rights groups and U.S. lawmakers who appealed for his release. Puracal recently spoke to Reuters about his ordeal. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JASON PURACAL, AMERICAN IMPRISONED IN NICARAGUAN JAIL, SAYING: "The whole process has been very surreal. From the very beginning, I kept thinking that they're just making some mistake. Any day they're just going to let me go. They're just going to walk me out of here because they didn't have any evidence, so obviously it's going to end tomorrow, but it just kept dragging on and dragging on and dragging on and then after the trial, it was, the trial wasn't even a trial. It was a joke. It was a circus." (SOUNDBITE) (English) JASON PURACAL, AMERICAN IMPRISONED IN NICARAGUAN JAIL, SAYING: "Give up? I don't think so. There were times where I was very depressed and it seemed like it was going on forever and there was never going to be an end. I would just think of my son and he was the ray of hope that kept me going. My wife would come visit me, so she would keep my spirits alive. When my sisters came down, they would bring stacks of e-mails from not only friends and family, but from hundreds of people I've never met before - all saying that they are praying for me and sending me good vibes and so those e-mails really lifted my spirits." Puracal, 35, was detained by Nicaraguan authorities in November 2010. After serving two years, an appeals court ordered that his trial be annulled because the judge did not substantiate the reasons for his ruling, and excluded evidence defense attorneys wanted to present.