IACHR files application before Inter-American Court of Human Rights in case concerning legislator's political rights in Nicaragua

January 28, 2025

Washington, DC—The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) filed on December 30, 2024, an application before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Case 14,677, with regard to Nicaragua. This case concerns Agustín Armando Jarquín Anaya's dismissal as legislator.

The Christian Democratic Union (UDC) and Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), along with other parties, formed in 2000 a political alliance known as Municipal Electoral Convergence. This alliance persisted until the 2006 presidential election. In 2011, the UDC, led by Jarquín, ratified its willingness to remain in an alliance with the FSLN, and that coalition became known as the United Nicaragua Wins Alliance.

Jarquín was elected legislator in 2011. However, after he declared himself an independent, the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) cancelled the UDC's legal status as a political party in April 2013. Later, the CSE integrated Alyeris Beldramina Arias Siezar as a substitute for the seat that had previously been held by Jarquín. Jarquín filed several writs of amparo, but these were rejected among others in the final decision made on November 27, 2013, by the Constitutional Chamber of Nicaragua's Supreme Court of Justice.

In Merits Report 146/24, the IACHR found that the CSE's decision to dismiss Jarquín as a legislator for changing political parties had entailed a violation of several rights protected by the American Convention. The IACHR found that this had been an arbitrary measure, since it had been grounded in rules that had only been formally made after the fact and therefore violated the legality principle.

The IACHR further noted that the CSE's decision had violated Jarquín's political rights and his right to freedom of association, by preventing him from joining his preferred political association and doing his job as a legislator. The IACHR noted that the CSE's resolution had lacked appropriate legal justification and that the proceedings that had preceded it had failed to ensure due process, among others by depriving Jarquín of the chance to defend himself.

The IACHR also identified serious deficiencies in this case in terms of judicial protection. No judicial remedy had been available to request a review of the CSE's decision, which left the victim without effective mechanisms to challenge that decision.

The IACHR therefore found that Nicaragua had failed to comply with its international obligations by violating the legality principle, not enforcing due process and judicial protection, and violating the political rights of Agustín Armando Jarquín Anaya. The IACHR found that the State was responsible for violations of the rights held in Articles 8, 9, 16, 23, and 25 of the American Convention, in keeping with the obligations held in Articles 1.1 and 2 of the same instrument.

The IACHR therefore asked the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to demand that the State take the following measures:

1. Provide comprehensive reparations for all rights violations mentioned in the report, both material and immaterial
2. Adopt mechanisms for non-recurrence, such as legislative measures to enable fast and effective legal remedies to review CSE decisions and to protect individuals' human and political rights.

The IACHR is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS) whose mandate is based on the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. Its mission is to promote and defend human rights throughout the Americas and to serve as an advisory body to the OAS in this area. The IACHR consists of seven independent members elected by the OAS General Assembly who serve in a personal capacity and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 026/25

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