Jurist UN rights experts decry mass revocation of lawyer credentials in Nicaragua

[Dadparvar]

The UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN) on Monday a condemned the government’s revocation of numerous lawyers’ and notaries’ credentials.

According to testimonies from those affected, there was no notification, legal basis, nor official explanation for the revocation. Many did not know they had been stripped of their licenses until they attended the courthouse or attempted to file legal documents.

The GHREN warns that this action “effectively erased” a crucial part of the legal profession in Nicaragua, thereby removing citizens’ right to legal defense. In their statement, Reed Brody, member of the GHREN, situates this incident as part of their ongoing concerns with the justice system in the country, stating:

The 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. International standards are unequivocal: no one may be barred from the practice of law without a fair hearing before an independent body. Here there was no hearing, no independent body – just a delete key.

Brody has said there are “at least hundreds, if not thousands of lawyers” affected by this latest crackdown on dissent.

Those affected are former judicial officials and lawyers who have been living in exile, former members of the ruling Sandinista party, and others who have no clear affiliation. Attacks like these have been a consistent finding of the GHREN, as expert member Ariela Peralta says:

Lawyers have been among the victims of political persecution in Nicaragua since 2018. They have faced threats, harassment, detention, and exile. They have been systematically denied access to their clients – and now, to the exercise of the profession itself.

Juan Diego Barberena, a lawyer and human rights defender who has been exiled in Costa Rica, was among those recently stripped of their accreditation. In a recent interview, Barberena described the move as the “dictatorship…wanting to prevent lawyers, experts and academics from participating in the future of the country’s institutions. “This is a means of exercising totalitarian control over the legal profession,” he said.

The experts’ report refers to an erosion of the legal profession beginning in 2023, with the arbitrary and permanent suspension of at least 25 lawyers. Some were former political prisoners, and others were part of a group stripped of their nationality after being accused of being “traitors to the homeland.”

Additionally, in October 2023, police took over the Supreme Court of Justice, leading to numerous judicial officials and being forced out. The government solidified their control over the judiciary through constitutional reforms in 2025, which completely removed its independence and invited criticism from human rights groups.

The GHREN was established in March 2022 by resolution 49/3, followed by resolution 52/2 and A/HRC/RES/58/18 which both extended the group’s mandate by periods of two years. The UN Human Rights Council created the group of three human rights experts to conduct an independent investigation into all alleged violations committed since April 2018. The GHREN has released numerous reports on its findings.

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