The Cuban dictatorship sentenced five protesters detained during peaceful anti-government protests in Caimanera, Guantanamo province, in May 2023, to sentences of two to eight years in prison.
The trial took place at the Niceto Pérez Municipal People’s Court on May 17, but the sentence was only published on the 9th. This week, the CubaNet website had access to its content.
According to the website, Daniel Álvarez González and Luis Miguel Alarcón Martínez were sentenced to eight and seven years in prison, respectively; Freddy Sarquiz González, to five years; Rodolfo Álvarez González, to four years; and Felipe Octavio Correa Martínez, to two years. One of the defendants, Yandri Pelier Matos, was acquitted.
They had been charged with the crimes of public disorder, instigation to commit a crime, resistance to authority and attack.
The sentence stated that the defendants “seriously violated public order to the detriment of respect for the community, the authorities of the territory and the National Revolutionary Police”, and that at least two of them were drunk while shouting phrases such as “down with communism” and “they are starving us to death”.
Victoria Martínez Valdivia, mother of two of the defendants, told CubaNet that the testimonies against the accused, including those of police officers and government officials, were lies.
In a statement calling for the release of people imprisoned for participating in pro-democracy demonstrations in Cuba, including the July 2021 protests and those in Caimanera in 2023, Amnesty International pointed out that “it is clear that the pattern of criminalization for the simple exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly continues unabated to this day” on the Caribbean island.
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