Cuba: heavy sentences against the demonstrators of July 2021, the IACHR concerned
Cuba, Havana, January 2022: Zoila Rodríguez Marzo shows a photo of her son Exeynt (C), her daughter Katia (I) and the father of her children Fredy Beirut (R), all three arrested during the July 2021 protests YAMIL LAGE AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
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Sentences of 20 years in prison for some of the convicts.
The OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said Thursday it was "concerned" about the human rights situation in Cuba.
“Severe sentences”, reacted for its part the Canadian government.
The convicts had participated in the historic demonstrations of July 11, 2021, the largest since the 1959 revolution.
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The human rights situation in Cuba is “
dramatic
”, asserted the rapporteur of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the OAS, in an interview with Agence France presse.
The IACHR expressed its “
concern
” for the hundreds of people detained and tried for having participated in the demonstrations of July 2021. The Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also reacted, condemning “
the severe sentences that Cuba imposes following the demonstrations
”.
Cubans who participated in these protests were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for sedition.
In total, some 790 Cubans are imprisoned and tried, explains to AFP Stuardo Ralón of the IACHR.
Under Cuban law, they risk up to 30 years in prison.
About fifty detainees are under the age of 18.
Those tried are prosecuted for “sedition”: the regime criminalizes an act (demonstrating) whose purpose is to demand a democratic opening, according to Stuardo Ralón.
On
July 11, 2021,
massive and unprecedented protests erupted on the communist island in response to a government-led monetary reform that led to a sharp increase in the prices of goods and services.
In about fifty cities, many Cubans took to the streets to cries of “
We are hungry!
and “
Freedom! ”
".
► To read also
: in Cuba: the rise in consumer prices could reach 70% in 2021
These demonstrations left one dead and dozens injured, and 1,377 people were arrested according to the NGO Cubalex.
► To read also:
in Cuba, after the demonstrations, the population rejects the violence
The Spanish editorial staff of RFI contacted Sergio Osmin, lawyer for the 11-J collective, which is dealing with 40 of the accused.
“
These judicial processes have simply been contrary to international standards;
and all of these criminal proceedings, or at least the majority, were in their preparatory phases marked by physical and psychological abuse.
The objective of these judicial farces was quite simply to criminalize the exercise of the right to demonstrate, like that of other fundamental freedoms, of Cubans exhausted by the totalitarianism that the Communist Party has established in Cuba. What the Havana regime is doing is to criminalize all those who demonstrated on July 11, with the clear objective of using these sentences to negotiate the sanctions imposed on it, mainly by the successive United States administrations. These people, who have been criminally sanctioned, will serve as bargaining chips for this regime to negotiate political conditions and the constraints imposed on them.
»
.
#CUBA [Dictadura] Cuando como Abogado representas 《pro bono》y sin recibir indicaciones de NADIE a decenas de víctimas de violaciones de #DerechosHumanos pasas también a ser una víctima de la @PresidenciaCuba |
@DiazCanelB y sus Grupos de Odio.
@UNIndepJudges |
@UN_Cuba.
pic.twitter.com/Fy5kFlOJ9Y
— Dr. Sergio Osmin Fernandez Palacios.
(Derecho) (@SergioOsminFP) February 17, 2022
(and with AFP)
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