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Cuban youths Félix Daniel Pérez Ruiz and Cristhian de Jesús Peña Aguilera have been sentenced to five and four years in prison, respectively, for a Facebook post in which they expressed their disagreement with the regime of Miguel Díaz-Canel.
According to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), the Chamber of Crimes against State Security of the Provincial Court of Santiago de Cuba has sentenced both to prison for "propaganda against the constitutional order," in a trial that involved judges Yoendris Rosabal Jerez, Angélica Maurelo Carbonel, and Eilen Labrada Núñez, as well as prosecutor Adan Vicente Santos Santos. The court acquitted other defendants.
According to the ruling, Pérez Ruiz (24 years old) wrote a post on the social media platform Facebook where he "expressed in vulgar terms that he was fed up with the Cuban government and that it was necessary to make oneself heard before the world (...) He urged sharing such content on social media with other friends and like-minded individuals, while also calling for a demonstration against the Cuban political system (...) in Vicente García Park, in Las Tunas."
The court itself acknowledges that the demonstration "did not materialize due to the actions of the Ministry of the Interior authorities."
Peña Aguilera, 22 years old and a friend of Pérez Ruiz on Facebook, "activated the share option to join the call, make it his own, and increase the number of followers," the ruling adds.
"We strongly condemn the prison sentences against citizens who freely exercise their right to expression on social media. The Cuban regime does not even hide that it penalizes free opinions with imprisonment and continues to hunt down any dissent," stated the OCDH in a press release.
At the beginning of this year, another ruling was upheld, even more unjust, sentencing 24-year-old political prisoner Mayelín Rodríguez Prado to 15 years in prison for live-streaming the anti-government protests that took place in Nuevitas, Camagüey, in August 2022.
Rodríguez Prado is held in the Provincial Women's Prison of Camagüey, known as Granja 5, where she has reported inhumane and degrading conditions for the inmates.
The young woman was arrested on August 22, 2022, at her home after recording and disseminating images of two girls being beaten by the repressive forces during the neighborhood protests that summer. Following her arrest, she was held incommunicado at the State Security headquarters in Villa María Luisa.
The authorities initially charged her with "public disorder," although the charges were later expanded to include "continued enemy propaganda" and "sedition," resulting in a combined sentence of 15 years of imprisonment.
In contrast to these excessive penalties, a young man without a driver's license has received a 9-year sentence for hitting and leaving behind another young man in military service who suffered until he died. The perpetrator tried to flee Cuba and was arrested at the José Martí airport. The prosecution is seeking a 9-year prison sentence. His defense is requesting three years of deprivation of liberty.
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