CUBA: Blind Dissident Put on Parole, Others Receive Prison Terms

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Apr 27 2004 (IPS) - A Cuban court granted a blind human rights lawyer and another opposition activist conditional liberty, while eight other dissidents received prison sentences of three to seven years, a prominent member of the opposition told IPS Tuesday.

Elizardo Sánchez, the president of the illegal but relatively tolerated Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said the blind activist, Juan Carlos González, was given a four-year sentence that was commuted to conditional liberty or parole.

González is the head of the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights, a small group opposed to the government of Fidel Castro.

The 2.5-year sentence handed down to his fellow activist Delio Laureano Requejo was also commuted to parole.

The trial took place behind closed doors in the central Cuban town of Ciego de Avila.

Sánchez pointed out that the accused have been in prison since they were arrested in March 2002 for protesting at the Ciego de Avila hospital against police brutality allegedly suffered by independent journalist Jesús Alvarez, who they were trying to visit.

Virgilio Mantilla was given a four-year term, which was extended by three years for ”crimes” committed while he was in pre-trial detention. ”That’s a technicality, because the court where they were tried is only for offences that do not merit more than four years,” said Sánchez.

Enrique and Antonio Marcelino García received 3.5-year terms, as did Lexter Tellez, who during the trial confessed that he was ”agent Ignacio” of the Cuban security services.

Roca said ”something curious happened. After (Tellez) spoke in court, he said he regretted what he had done (as an undercover agent), and they removed him from the courtroom.”

Tellez, the former head of the Free Press Agency in Ciego de Avila, was only brought back to the courtroom to hear the verdict.

”It is clear that he collaborated with the state security service,” said Sánchez. ”He acted as the instrument of a trap set to arrest González and the others, but then he regretted what he had done.”

Two other dissidents, Lázaro Iglesias and Carlos Brizuela, were sentenced to three years in jail.

Odalmis Hernández and Ana Peláez are to serve three years of ”day prison”. Under that system, they sleep at home and spend their days in jail.

Although it was initially scheduled for Tuesday, the trial took place Monday, stretching from noon until after 22:00.

The charges against the dissidents included disrespect for authority, contempt, public disorder, and resisting arrest.

Vladimiro Roca, spokesman for the dissident group Todos Unidos (All United), told IPS that the prosecutor asked for a six-year sentence for González, but that he was given four years, two of which he has already served, which made him eligible for parole.

”His wife Maritza signed the papers for his conditional liberty last night in the technical department of the Ciego de Avila police,” said Roca, who added that he had obtained information from an ”independent reporter” in the town.

Sánchez said the trial was held amidst strict security measures, and that only relatives were allowed in the courtroom.

”One of our observers travelled on Sunday to Ciego de Avila, 461 km from Havana, but was unable to enter the courtroom, although he did get information from family members,” said Sánchez, who was accused last year of collaborating with the Cuban police, a charge that he denies.

In the last trials against activists, in April 2003, 75 dissidents were given lengthy prison terms of up to 28 years for ”conspiring with the United States” to overthrow the Cuban government.

In the summary trials, a number of ”activists” revealed that they were undercover agents working for the government, and testified against the rest of the dissidents.