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The Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) has suspended the licenses of lawyers and notaries, both inside and outside Nicaragua, according to several judicial sources. The decision, which began being communicated without any disciplinary process, threatens to undermine Nicaragua’s legal certainty.
Among those notified are former Supreme Court Justice Yadira Centeno González and her daughter, attorney Lucía Flores, a source told CONFIDENCIAL.
“They’ve already been notified, without any due process, and have been ordered to surrender everything, including their notarial records. We don’t know how many others are affected because notifications only started today,” the source said.
Lawyers first became aware of the measure in early July 2026. However, the Supreme Court has issued no official statement explaining the scope of the decision, the criteria used to revoke credentials, or the total number of people affected.
“So far there have been no official notifications. Someone else also told me about Yadira and her daughter. They appear to be the only ones who have been formally notified,” the source added.
The newspaper La Prensa first reported the revocation of legal licenses and the removal of credentials granting access to the Nicarao System, citing sources who say that more than 2,000 lawyers have been affected.
Conflicting Accounts Within the Supreme Court
Inside the judiciary, conflicting explanations are circulating. One version claims that the cancellations are the result of a technical problem with the computer system that manages the registry of lawyers and notaries.
“There’s another version that supposedly there was a technical IT problem that caused a major disruption, and they’re trying to correct it,” the source explained.
That explanation, however, has not convinced lawyers who have been noticing irregularities in the registry for several weeks and say there is no identifiable pattern showing who is being removed from the system.
“I know a lawyer who disappeared from the registry last week (the first days of July). He works in the private sector, is a Sandinista party member, and has never been involved in politics,” the source said.
“I also know of the case of a judge’s assistant who no longer appears in the registry, a public defender, former military lawyers who practice law, and ordinary litigators who make their living from day-to-day legal work.”
Consequences for the Entire Justice System
Although there is no clear pattern indicating what is happening, some IT specialists have been called to Supreme Court headquarters to examine the system, while other lawyers have submitted formal letters requesting clarification.
“There are lawyers who no longer appear in the official registry of lawyers and notaries, and this has implications that go far beyond a computer glitch or a psychotic decision by the regime. What will happen to the deeds prepared by lawyers who are no longer recognized as lawyers? What will happen to civil cases, criminal cases, or any other proceedings in which they were acting as defense counsel or prosecutors?” another source within the judicial system asked.
The source added that the measure “disrupts the country’s entire legal framework—the Ministry of the Interior, INETER, property registries, courts, and so on.”
“How does this affect poor people who depend on affordable legal services and need to know who is or is not a licensed attorney? Many everyday litigators rely on secretarial services or photocopy shops. How many indirect jobs will be affected?” the source asked.
Lawyers Suspended Without Disciplinary Proceedings
Human rights lawyer Reed Brody, a member of the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN), questioned the way the suspensions are being carried out.
The UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers—which Brody helped draft while working with the International Commission of Jurists in 1990—provide that governments must ensure lawyers are able to “perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment, or improper interference.”
The Basic Principles also state that disciplinary proceedings against lawyers must be heard before “an impartial disciplinary committee established by the legal profession,” meaning an independent body established by law or a judicial tribunal, and that such decisions must be subject to independent judicial review.
“No one can be barred from practicing their profession without a fair process before an independent body. In Nicaragua, there was no process, no independent body—there was nothing,” Brody said.
In 2023, the Supreme Court permanently revoked the licenses of 25 lawyers and notaries, including 15 former political prisoners—among the 222 individuals exiled to the United States in February 2023—and 10 members of the group of 94 people stripped of their Nicaraguan nationality after the Ortega government accused them of being “traitors to the homeland.”
The resolutions were signed by Supreme Court President Alba Luz Ramos, Vice President Marvin Aguilar, and Justice Juana Méndez, all of whom are considered close allies of the Ortega government and have a history of subordinating judicial decisions to the wishes of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega.
Most of the suspended lawyers had been involved in defending political prisoners, civil society organizations, and groups critical of the governments of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
“We have spoken with several of the affected lawyers. They told us they found out without any prior notice and without any legal process. They simply no longer appear in the system, and as a result they are prevented from practicing law,” the UN expert warned.
