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GENEVA:
UN experts on Monday slammed the ongoing “purge” of Nicaragua’s legal profession after the country’s government revoked the work credentials for numerous lawyers without explanation.
The independent UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua said there were “reasonable grounds to believe that the Nicaraguan Government is systematically stripping numerous lawyers of their legal licences”.
“We have repeatedly condemned Nicaragua’s Government interference with the judiciary, but eliminating a large part of the legal profession is a new escalation,” group chair Jan-Michael Simon said in a statement.
Nicaragua’s exile daily La Prensa reported last week that the names of some 2,000 lawyers had been removed without explanation from the Supreme Court of Justice’s registry, in a matter of days.
The UN expert group, which was created by the UN Human Rights Council in 2022 to investigate allegations of widespread abuses in the country, highlighted that testimonies from those affected suggested that “no prior notification was given, no legal basis was provided, and no official explanation was issued”.
“Most only learned of the measure when they tried to enter courthouses, file legal papers or type their names into the Supreme Court’s digital registry and found it was no longer there,” the statement said.
The independent experts, who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations, warned that the move “effectively erased a vital part of the nation’s legal profession overnight and stripped citizens of their right to legal defence”.
The group pointed out that the latest measures came on the heels of “a sweeping purge of the judicial system” underway since October 2023, when police took control of the Supreme Court of Justice and removed senior officials.
Since then, eight magistrates have resigned or been forced out, while more than 1,000 judicial employees have been dismissed, it said.
And last year, constitutional reforms stripped the judiciary of its status as an independent power, redefining it as an “organ” to be coordinated by co-presidents and spouses Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, who have ruled Nicaragua for nearly two decades with absolute power.
“This silent purge of the legal profession is one more nail in the coffin of the independence of justice in Nicaragua: first they took the judges, now they are taking the lawyers,” group member Reed Brody said in the statement.
“International standards are unequivocal: no one may be barred from the practice of law without a fair hearing before an independent body,” he stressed.
“Here there was no hearing, no independent body – just a delete key.” AFP