**Updates IFEX alert dated 10 November 1994; for background, see IFEX press release dated 19 September 1994** According to the sixteen journalists from the daily “Barricada” who were dismissed in late 1994, a decision is to be handed down soon by a Labour Court judge in regard to their dismissal. They are hoping that the […]
**Updates IFEX alert dated 10 November 1994; for background,
see IFEX press release dated 19 September 1994**
According to the sixteen journalists from the daily “Barricada”
who were dismissed in late 1994, a decision is to be handed down
soon by a Labour Court judge in regard to their dismissal. They
are hoping that the judge’s decision will not only recognize
their labour rights but will also award them fair and proper
compensation. Even though the group of sixteen journalists
includes several founders of “Barricada” and others who have long
been involved with journalism in Nicaragua, none of them has
received any compensation from “Barricada” for their years of
service.
The trial has dragged on for more than fifteen months. Throughout
that time, the journalists have faced many obstacles to their
struggle against the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN),
which owns “Barricada” and which ordered the dismissal of the
journalists. There has been political and legal interference with
the impartiality of the judges as well as extensive delays and
changes of legal counsel reportedly due to pressure by
representatives of the FSLN. Moreover, during the trial, counsel
for the FSLN made the journalists prove that they had truly
worked for “Barricada”. The FSLN used this legal tactic in order
to “prove” that the journalists did not actually work for
“Barricada” and, consequently, that the FSLN was not obligated to
give them any financial compensation.
