Amaya Eva Coppens is a fifth-year medical student at the Universidad Autónoma de Nicaragua, in Leòn, who was arrested on 10 September 2018 for participating in a national protest.
A group of students of the University of Trento who have studied the state of academic freedom and examined her case in particular, organized petition-signings at several departments and centres demanding her liberation.
Under the slogan “We Are Amaya. UniTrento per la libertà accademica”, the advocacy campaign is led by Pietro Carra, Ion Foltea, Francesca Ongaro, Federica Tagliavini and Clelia Zardini, who attended the seminars on “Advocacy for Academic Freedom” coordinated by Ester Gallo of the Department of Sociology and Social Research.
The group met Rector Paolo Collini this morning to present the case of the Nicaraguan student detained for political reasons and to ask him to sign the petition. The Rector welcomed the petition and signed the letter demanding the release of Amaya.
Since November 2017 the University of Trento has been a member of Scholars at Risks - an international network of universities whose mission is to promote academic freedom, both as freedom to teach and to conduct research and as right to education, but also as freedom of expression for teachers, students and university staff.
The University of Trento is one of the founding members of Sar-Italia, which was established on 19 February.
Ester Gallo is the Sar delegate for UniTrento.
The entire university community and all citizens are invited to sign the petition for the liberation of Amaya Eva Coppens, including online.