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Twenty demonstrators were sentenced on Tuesday in Cuba for their participation in the historic protest movement of July 11, 2021. Some of them received sentences of up to 20 years in prison for sedition.
Cubans who participated in the historic demonstrations of July 11, 2021 have been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for sedition, AFP learned on Tuesday February 15 from the Justicia 11J collective, which monitors the trials.
“In recent hours we have been able to access the convictions of 20 demonstrators accused of the offense of sedition in the province of Holguin (east), including five minors”, wrote the collective on its Facebook page.
The group published the names and ages of the convicted protesters, including a 50-year-old man and a 33-year-old man, against whom the prosecution had requested 30 years in prison, and finally sentenced to a 20-year sentence.
It also broadcast the audio testimony of William Manuel Leyva Pupo, 20 years old and sentenced to 12 years in prison. “What they did to me was not justice,” he denounces in this recording.
Five of the convicts are aged 16 and 17, and received sentences of up to five years in prison. In total, more than 700 Cubans, including 55 under the age of 18, have been charged for these demonstrations, and 172 others had already been convicted before those who have just been in Holguin, according to justice.
In Cuba, majority is acquired at the age of 18, but criminal liability and the obligation of military service apply from the age of 16.
“Scandalous”
“We note the modifications of the convictions (compared to the requisitions, editor’s note) as gestures of the State in the face of strong national and international pressure, however Justice 11J insists in its request for release for those already convicted or awaiting trial. “, writes the collective.
“The immediate freedom of all July protesters is the only truly just solution to the state’s response to a protest that only ceased to be peaceful after the action of military and paramilitary groups on the orders of President Miguel Diaz -Canel”, he adds.
“Scandalous”, reacted via Twitter the United States Embassy in Havana, describing these sentences as “unfair”. “The government should release all protesters now,” she added.
To cries of “Freedom” and “We are hungry”, thousands of Cubans demonstrated on July 11, 2021. These rallies, unprecedented since the 1959 revolution, left one dead and dozens injured, and 1,377 people were killed. arrested according to the NGO Cubalex.
With AFP