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The People's Supreme Court (TSP) of Cuba upheld on Friday the life sentence imposed on former Minister of Economy and former Vice Prime Minister Alejandro Gil Fernández, after rejecting the two appeals submitted by his defense.
With this decision, both the life sentence for espionage and the 20-year sentence for a series of crimes related to corruption, including embezzlement, bribery, tax evasion, and money laundering are confirmed.
According to what the agency EFE was able to confirm, the Court informed the parties that it would not accept any of the appeals filed by the defense, one against the life sentence for espionage and another against the one that encompasses nearly a dozen criminal charges.
In this way, the country's highest judicial body closed the ordinary route to overturn the ruling.
In an official statement, the Supreme Court explained that Gil "deceived the country's leadership and the people he represented, resulting in harm to the economy."
He also stated that he "failed to follow work processes with the classified official information he handled, removed it, damaged it, and ultimately made it available to enemy services."
The judges described these acts as "highly damaging behaviors" that warrant a "severe criminal response."
"The betrayal of the Homeland is the gravest of crimes, and those who commit it are subject to the most severe penalties," the document emphasizes.
The TSP statement did not mention the ten people who would have been tried in the same process as Gil, nor did it provide details about their situation.
The most dramatic downfall of one of the most powerful men in the regime
Alejandro Gil was dismissed from his positions in February 2024, and a month later the Government announced his arrest and the opening of a judicial investigation, after detecting what were then described as "serious errors."
In November of that year, the Attorney General of the Republic formalized the charges for 11 offenses, including the charge of espionage, which added a much more severe political and criminal dimension to the case than initially suggested.
It was tried last November in a double hearing, and on December 8, the TSP announced the guilty verdicts in both cases.
He was sentenced to life in prison for the crime of espionage, while for the remaining charges, an additional 20-year prison sentence was imposed, along with supplementary sanctions.
The proceedings and the trial remained closed to both the public and the press.
Until he fell from grace, Alejandro Gil was a prominent figure close to the ruler Díaz-Canel and a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party.
He was responsible for implementing the "Tarea Ordenamiento," an economic reform aimed at eliminating the dual currency system, which ultimately ended in failure: it devalued the Cuban peso, led to the current dollarization, and plunged a significant portion of the population into poverty.
The ratification of the life sentence against Alejandro Gil closes, at least on the judicial front, one of the most delicate episodes for the recent Cuban government: the downfall of a man who was portrayed as one of the architects of the country's economic policy and who is now officially branded as a traitor and spy.
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