Nicaragua revokes work permits for 2,000 lawyers
The government of Nicaragua revoked work permits for 2,000 lawyers without explanation, the lawyers and Nicaragua’s exile media said Thursday, decrying the move as repression.
Daily La Prensa reported that the names of the affected lawyers were removed without explanation from the Supreme Court of Justice’s registry in recent days, stripping them of the ability to practice their profession.
“It is a political message of control and repression … a civil death,” one lawyer who had her name removed from the registry told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity.
She said the move fits a “pattern” of persecution against Nicaraguans who have been “identified as defenders of democracy.”
It sends a message to Nicaraguans that “they cannot choose just any lawyer, but only those who enjoy privileges under the regime,” she said.
AFP learned of an incident where a lawyer arrived at court for a case but was told he no longer had a license.
“Nicaragua does not meet even the minimum standards of judicial independence,” Reed Brody, a member of a UN group monitoring human rights there, told AFP.
Absolute power
“Erasing lawyers from the Supreme Court registry, without notice, without due process, is shutting down the last remaining channel of defense available to citizens,” Brody said.
Copresidents and spouses Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have ruled Nicaragua for nearly two decades with absolute power. They have kept a tight grip on society since a harsh crackdown on protests in 2018 left more than 300 people dead, according to the United Nations.
Opposition group Liberales Nicaragua also condemned the measure, asserting that it turns the legal profession “into a discipline subordinated to the slogans and capricious political designs of the Ortega-Murillo dynasty.”
Neither the government nor the Supreme Court have made an official statement regarding the accusations.
