Cuban dictatorship ordered house arrest of some protesters while advancing summary trials

Cuban dictatorship ordered house arrest this weekend for several people sentenced to prison last week at summary trials and that they had been detained during the original demonstrations kicked off on July 11 in different towns on the island.

“I was released on Saturday thanks to the mediation of the president of the National Council of Plastic Arts (CNAP), Norma Rodríguez, who interceded for me”he told the agency PA the artist Carlos González Acosta. “They told me that I was under house arrest at my home, pending the outcome of the appeal.”

González, 38, was sentenced last Tuesday to 10 months in prison for disturbing public order and is one of 59 people the judicial authorities have said have been punished so far after massive protests against the regime Castroist. His lawyer had filed an appeal.

The artist recounted being interviewed by the president of the CNAP in Valle Grande prison, where he entered with prison officers in the afternoon and at night he was allowed to go home. He assured that two other people –one of them the photographer Anyelo Troya– They came out in the same condition.

So far, authorities have not indicated how many citizens were arrested around this time, but on Saturday Rubén Remigio Ferro of the Supreme People’s Court (TSP) said they have conducted 19 court cases involving 59 people for less serious crimes.

“The motivation, in my personal case, that I had to go out to protest, was to exercise my right to express my opinions”said González, who said he was arrested on July 11 as he left without using violence. The plurality of demands – some economic resulting from the crisis such as shortages, other social and political demands of non-conformists – demonstrated, according to the artist, spontaneity protests.

Both the TSP and the Attorney General’s office insisted that the processes were conducted in accordance with Cuban laws with all guarantees for the accused. “We are not troglodytes”Ferro expressed when defending the actions of the courts.

A few days ago, José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the America division of the famous NGO Human Rights Watch, denounced that “The Cuban regime tries the demonstrators through summary procedures which prevent them from exercising their right to defense.”

Via his Twitter account, Vivanco explained the maneuver that the dictatorship is leading in Cuba to to condemn persons detained during opposition protests “behind closed doors” on July 11. “The processes, known as ‘summary’ or ‘direct attestation’, are provided for in the law of criminal procedure and in instruction 238 of the Supreme Court of Cuba,” he said in a thread of tweets. “By law, the trial continues even if the accused does not have a defense lawyer. In practice, defendants are often informed at the last minute that they need a lawyer. If they can’t hire one, they go to trial without legal representation “, he noticed.

In addition, he warned that, according to this law, “the trial can also take place without a prosecutor” and that “in practice, in these cases, the trial remains in the hands of the police officer and the judge”.

“The police (not a judge or a prosecutor) decide first whether the accused is arrested or placed under house arrest. In practice, trials are held behind closed doors where only one family member of the accused is allowed to attend. The sentence is transmitted orally. Usually, relatives do not get a written sentence explaining the reasons for the decision. Vivanco remarked.

And concluded: “By law, these procedures are only permitted for ‘crimes punishable by deprivation of liberty of up to one year.’ But many times a person is tried for more than one of these crimes, so the sentence can go up to several years in prison. Usually, prosecutors and police apply broad and vague types of sentences or those with disproportionate sentences: ‘incitement to commit a crime’, ‘contempt’, ‘resistance’, ‘public disturbance’, ‘epidemic spread’ “.

The unprecedented demonstrations, the most important because of the number of people – a few thousand – and because they took place in various parts of the country, rocked Cuba, which is going through a serious economic crisis and a re-epidemic of the new coronavirus with more than 8,000 daily infections.

The Castro regime responded with a brutal repression, who left a dead, Yes dozens of injured, arrested and even missing.

Non-governmental organizations estimated the arrests at around 600, although in the early days there were such releases as that of the playwright Yunior García Aguilera.

Actor Daniel Triana also shared on social networks the release of his colleague -Saturday- in the appeal process Alexandre Diego Gil.

Faced with the large mass of demonstrators, the dictatorship militarized the streets of the country to contain the demonstrators. Dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel, faced with this context, acknowledged the problematic situation the country is going through due to food and medicine shortages, queues, power cuts and the deterioration of the quality of life. in working-class neighborhoods. However, according to the regime’s constant narrative, He blamed the United States for waging a campaign to incite protests and said the nation is in crisis because of North American sanctions.

This Monday twenty countries led by the United States condemned the arrests through a statement issued by the State Department urging the Cuban authorities “to respect the universal human rights demands expressed by Cubans”.

“The Cuban government has not responded by listening to the demands of its own people, but by silencing these voices even further through acts of arbitrary detention and summary trials that have been conducted secretly and without due process guarantees.», Indicates the declaration signed by Austria, Israel, Brazil, Montengro and Ukraine among others.

(With AP information)

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