Leyla Carolina Prado

 NICARAGUA: human rights lawyer Leyla Carolina Prado forced into exile for defending political prisoners

24 September 2024

Human rights lawyer Leyla Carolina Prado defended victims of government repression during the political and social crisis that broke out in Nicaragua in 2018[1]. She was forced into exile with her family in 2019 because she was facing death threats.

Leyla Carolina Prado was a public prosecutor for 16 years. She decided to resign in February 2016 due to her dissatisfaction with the political instrumentalisation of the institution. Since 2018, Prado has been part of a group of lawyers delegated by the Permanent Commission for Human Rights (CPDH), specialising in the legal defence of political prisoners. She has also taken on the legal defence of other persecuted colleagues, such as the well-known case of the lawyer María Oviedo, who was convicted and then expelled from the country[2], and that of the lawyer Eddy Montes Praslin, who was murdered in prison[3].

The lawyer was exposed to serious risks for defending such cases, being persecuted and besieged at the headquarters of the CPDH, the police and the public prosecutor’s office. Her car was also attacked when she was defending the case of the murder of Eddy Montes Praslin. The lawyer even explained that she had been verbally insulted in court and that she had been continually obstructed in her defence work by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

In August 2019, the lawyer received death threats on social media, targeting her and her children. The death threats intensified, culminating in a siege by paramilitaries in September 2019, warning her that she would regret her work and leaving the word “Plomo” written outside her house, which, in the context of repression in Nicaragua, means death.

Although the lawyer was the beneficiary of precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Nicaraguan state did not guarantee her safety and that of her family, and the lawyer had to leave the country to protect her life and that of her children. Since her exile, the lawyer has denounced the reprisals suffered by her family and friends in recent years in connection with her work defending human rights.

The Observatory maintains its firm condemnation of the persistent harassment of the Nicaraguan legal profession engaged in the defence of human rights.

The Observatory demands that a serious, thorough and impartial investigation be carried out into the threats, intimidation and harassment against the lawyer Leyla Carolina Prado and legal professionals, and that all necessary measures be taken to guarantee her safety and that of her colleagues in the exercise of their profession.

The Observatory recalls that, in accordance with the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, in particular principles 16 and 17:

“Governments shall ensure that lawyers (a) are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference; (…) ; (c) shall not suffer, or be threatened with, prosecution or administrative, economic or other sanctions for any action taken in accordance with recognized professional duties, standards and ethics.” (Principle 16)

“Where the security of lawyers is threatened as a result of discharging their functions, they shall be adequately safeguarded by the authorities.” (Principle 17)

[1] For more information, see “OIAD’s contribution to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review on Nicaragua”. Available at the following address:https://protect-lawyers.org/es/item/nicaragua-contribucion-del-oiad-al-examen-periodico-universal-de-naciones-unidas-sobre-nicaragua/

[2] BBC News, 16 August, 2023: “La doble condena de los opositores expulsados de Nicaragua: “Desde que salí de la cárcel y me llevaron a EEUU no he vuelto a ver a mis hijos””. Disponible en: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/c1wv3wlxewvo

[3] Confidencial, 18 May, 2019: “Al preso político Eddy Montes le dispararon por la espalda”. Disponible en: https://confidencial.digital/nacion/al-preso-politico-eddy-montes-le-dispararon-por-la-espalda/