The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention demanded the immediate release of 17 people convicted for the protests on July 11, 2021 in Cuba, after considering that their detentions were "arbitrary" and contravene the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In a decision taken at its 99th session in March and recently published, the working group, composed of five independent experts, also called for these 17 individuals to be granted "the effective right to obtain compensation and other forms of reparation."
Although their recommendations are not binding, they carry strong moral and political weight, highlighted the EFE agency.
The condemned are Ángel Serrano, Carlos Paul Michelena, Denis Ojeda, Felipe Almirall, Fredy Beirut, Katia Beirut, Luis Frómeta, Odet Hernández, Oscar Luis Ortiz, Reynier Reinosa, Robert Orlando Cairo, Roberto Pérez, Rolando Vázquez, Walnier Luis Aguilar (with certified disability), Wilmer Moreno, Yerandis Rillos, and Yoandry Reinier Sayu.
They were all detained between July 12th and 24th, 2021, for participating in the anti-government protests that started in San Antonio de los Baños and spread throughout the country.
The UN working group, led by New Zealand jurist Matthew Gillett, concluded that the detentions were on discriminatory grounds due to their political opinions.
The working group's report also pointed out several irregularities in the judicial process, such as the absence of arrest warrants, lack of judicial oversight during the initial detention, and the assumption of judicial roles by police officers and prosecutors.
The 17 prisoners were sentenced to between 15 and 26 years in prison, terms that were later reduced to between 8 and 18 years, among other charges for the crime of "sedition," which the UN body considers "subjective and imprecise."
Similarly, the organization denounced that pretrial detention was ordered by prosecutors without the possibility of appeal and that there were interrogations under coercion without legal representation.
The working group also criticized that one of the detainees, Walnier Luis Aguilar, has a certified disability and was tried without taking his condition into account.
The report did not consider the communication from the Cuban government regarding these cases as it was sent after the deadline.
In addition, he recalled that Cuba is not part of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, one of the treaties supervised by this UN body.
The Havana regime sentenced more than 700 people for the protests of the so-called 11J in arbitrary trials where no defense witnesses were taken into account.
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