According to estimates from reliable sources, nearly 2,000 practicing attorneys in Nicaragua have reportedly been arbitrarily removed from the Supreme Court of Justice’s registry, which amounts to “their professional death” and de facto absolute disqualification, as this prevents them from litigating, representing their clients, or even filing briefs with the courts, among other actions inherent to their profession. This measure, affecting mostly professionals currently in the country but also those in exile, appears to be part of the strategy of the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo to further deepen its totalitarian drift and purge the legal profession of people it considers to be opponents or not aligned with the regime. 

Beyond its arbitrary nature and the serious impacts on these people’s work and lives, the measure also leaves large segments of the population defenseless. In the specific case of women attorneys who have been excluded from the registry, for example, this could leave women who seek to bring cases of gender-based violence to court, or who need legal representation and/or accompaniment to assert their rights, without legal recourse. 

Many of these lawyers have also taken on cases involving people facing political persecution, both within the country and in exile, providing legal advice, litigating, or handling legal and administrative procedures on behalf of their clients. The measure also affects communities that are defending collective rights, such as the right to their territory, who may lose their legal representatives. Furthermore, in the context of the regime of terror imposed in the country since April 2018, this measure also serves as a warning to the entire legal profession regarding what could happen to any attorney who advises, accompanies, or defends a person or a cause that is not in line with the regime’s interests. 

IM-Defensoras condemns this utterly arbitrary measure, which has no other purpose than to further consolidate the totalitarian, corrupt, neoliberal, and misogynistic government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, and we call on the international community to express its rejection, show solidarity with those affected, and continue to embody support for all human rights defenders who, both inside and outside the country, continue to work for a more just, free, and egalitarian Nicaragua.