Jennifer Brown

Activity
Feminist human rights defender

Attacks
Criminalization

THE FACTS – At 5:15 pm on Thursday, August 23rd, agents of the National Police appeared at Jennifer Brown’s residence in Bluefields to hand her a subpoena for that same day at 7 pm.

In response to the defender´s requirements to know the motives for the subpoena and the abnormal hour of delivery, the agents replied: “You just be there tonight and you’ll find out what they are.”

Jennifer Brown is an outstanding feminist defender who, since the beginning of the political human rights crisis last April 19th, has been subjected to a number of threats from public oficials and members of the Sandinista Youth and to harassment in social networks, as we denounced in a collective #WHRDAlert issued last May 17th.

As verified by human rights organisms such as the IACHR, the current strategy of the Nicaraguan government to repress and inhibit social protest focuses on the criminalization and judicial prosecution of activists and human rights defenders.

Therefore, IM-Defensoras and the Nicaraguan Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders express our concern over this subpoena and its abnormalities. We demand that the Nicaraguan government abstain from any action to criminalize defender Jennifer Brown and hold it responsable for anything that may happen to her.

Likewise, we urge the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to grant the precautionary measures requested by Jennifer Brown as soon as possible.

Lastly, we call on all international human rights organisms to stay alert for developments in the case and to show solidarity with the defender, pressing for an end to the criminalization and persecution of persons and organizations defending human rights in Nicaragua.