NICARAGUA announced yesterday that it was withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC).

The central American country accused the UN body of slandering it and becoming a sounding board for those who have threatened peace and tranquillity and are the perpetrators of the many murders, kidnappings and rapes of the Nicaraguan people.

The UN report, released on Wednesday, accuses Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, who serve as co-presidents, of having “transformed the country into an authoritarian state where no independent institutions remain.”

The UN experts urged legal action against Nicaragua, claiming human rights abuses in the Latin American country.

The Nicaraguan government slammed the report as evidence of double standards and the politicisation of the HRC.

Ms Murillo said: “For Nicaragua, these disrespectful mechanisms have lost their nature and essence. For this reason, Nicaragua hereby expresses its sovereign and irrevocable decision to withdraw from the HRC and from all activities related to this council and all its satellite mechanisms.”

Ms Murillo said that Nicaragua rejected all the “falsehoods, falsifications, slander“ and lies in the report.