Akin Team’s Pro Bono Efforts Help Secure Release of 13 Members of a Texas Missionary Organization from Nicaraguan Prison
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13 members of the Texas-based evangelical missionary organization Mountain Gateway have been released from Nicaraguan prison following a months-long pro bono effort by a group of Akin attorneys to secure their freedom.
11 pastors and two attorneys affiliated with the church were wrongfully detained by the Nicaraguan government following an evangelical tour of the region last December. The church members are now among a group of 135 people travelling to Guatemala where they will seek refugee status as part of a deal brokered by the White House. The Biden-Harris administration says the group includes Catholics, students and others deemed a threat to the authoritarian rule of Nicaragua’s leaders Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
Speaking to the New York Times, following the release of the detainees, Akin Washington D.C. based partner Ryan Fayhee said, “This seems to be part of a trend: expelling religious people and church leadership. I’m hopeful it’ll be a safer place moving forward, where people can choose to exercise fundamental human rights, like exercising choice of religion and gathering.”
Akin’s advocacy work on behalf of Mountain Gateway included close coordination with the White House, the State department and the Hill and resulted in House and Senate resolutions in support of the detainees as well as ongoing efforts to stop the Nicaraguan government’s abuse of the Interpol system to target victims and interfere with their humanitarian work.
Akin’s cross-practice effort included its litigation, regulatory, pro bono, public policy and lobbying groups. “We all shared a deep commitment to these people’s fundamental right to freedom, and we believed we could leverage the firm’s core strengths across lobbying, crisis communications and crisis management to achieve the only acceptable outcome,” said Claudius Modesti, Akin White Collar & Government Investigations partner.
The firm’s pro bono work will with Mountain Gateway will continue through support on immigration related matters as members of the group begin the process of seeking US refugee status or other lawful migration pathways from their current stay in Guatemala.
The Akin team included Hunter Bates, Ryan Fayhee, Claudius Modesti, Roger Murry, Lide Paterno, Galen Roehl, Steven Schulman and Ryan Thompson
Akin is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
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