How university leaders can support student expression

A piece by former SAR Program Assistant Annabelle Wilmott for University World News.

Amaya Eva Coppens, a medical student at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua in León, is scheduled to stand trial in February under criminal charges. She is one of the leaders of the 19th of April Student Movement. She was arrested on 10 September 2018 for participating in a nationwide pro-democracy protest.

Coppens was taken into custody without a warrant, held incommunicado and denied access to legal counsel for nine days, and remains detained, awaiting trial.

Since April, the Nicaraguan government has arrested more than 2,000 protesters – many of them students like Coppens – who have participated in demonstrations decrying austerity measures, calling for democratic reforms, and urging the resignation of President Daniel Ortega.

Read more here.