Nicaragua’s Government Purges Lawyers in Crackdown on Dissent

Nicaragua’s government has taken a drastic step in its ongoing crackdown on dissent, stripping hundreds of lawyers of their licenses to practice. This move, described by a United Nations expert as a ‘purge of the legal profession,’ is aimed at eroding the country’s final shreds of democratic checks and balances.

The government of husband-and-wife copresidents, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, has been carrying out an all-out crackdown on dissent since mass social protests in 2018 that the government violently repressed. Since then, the government has imprisoned adversaries, religious leaders, journalists, and others, forcing thousands to flee the country. It has also stripped hundreds of their Nicaraguan citizenship and possessions.

In recent days, lawyers noticed that their licenses to practice law in Nicaragua were removed without explanation from the Supreme Court of Justice’s registry. Reed Brody, an American human rights lawyer and member of a U.N. panel of experts on the Central American country, stated that the full scope was not immediately clear, but it ‘would certainly appear to be at least hundreds, if not thousands of lawyers.’

Brody said the move follows the pattern of the government targeting various sectors, including NGOs, universities, independent media, churches, and now the legal profession. ‘Anyone who might stand between the government and citizens’ is being targeted, he explained.

Juan Diego Barberena, a lawyer and human rights defender exiled in Costa Rica since 2022, was among those stripped of his official certification. He knew of at least 25 more colleagues like him. Barberena attempted to access his legal accreditation on the government’s database and found that his name and license number were wiped clean from the system.

‘This is a means of exercising totalitarian control over the legal profession,’ Barberena said. ‘This means that the dictatorship can decide who gets to practice and who doesn’t.’

The move echoes other steps the government has taken in recent years, including stripping Nicaraguan exiles of their citizenship and rendering them ‘stateless.’ These individuals have reported similar stories of themselves or family members going to search for their birth certificates and other legal documents in official databases and being told they don’t exist.

However, Barberena and Brody noted that the move this week by authorities went a step further, as those erased from the system were not just dissenters. Some were simply Nicaraguans living abroad, while others practiced criminal or family law that didn’t touch on politics. Some were even government sympathizers, Barberena said.

Brody framed it as a move to whittle away at any last remaining shred of independence in a judicial system already firmly under the control of Ortega and Murillo. ‘On one hand, it’s an arbitrary measure to punish political dissent,’ Barberena said. ‘On the other, it’s the dictatorship looking medium-term and wanting to prevent lawyers, experts, and academics from participating in the future of the country’s institutions.’

The government has not responded to a request for comment from The Associated Press. However, the move has sparked widespread condemnation from human rights groups and the international community.

Key Points:

• Nicaragua’s government has stripped hundreds of lawyers of their licenses to practice.
• The move is aimed at eroding the country’s final shreds of democratic checks and balances.
• The government has been carrying out an all-out crackdown on dissent since mass social protests in 2018.
• Thousands of people have been imprisoned, forced to flee the country, or had their citizenship and possessions stripped.
• The move follows the pattern of the government targeting various sectors, including NGOs, universities, independent media, churches, and now the legal profession.