Four Cuban citizens who managed to escape from a strict regime penal colony in Russia were sentenced to two years in prison each for the escape, which occurred last July and involved the collaboration of a person who was outside the penitentiary.
The sentence was handed down on Tuesday, October 27, by the Municipal Court of Rybinsk, in the Russian region of Yaroslavl, according to the local newspaper YarNews, which cited the press service of the regional courts.
The four Cubans, identified by the media as Frank J. R. R., Yoan M. P., George B. R., and Pedro J. M. M., were already serving prison sentences when they organized the escape, which took place on the night of July 9, 2026.
According to the judicial investigation, the inmates collaborated with each other and with an accomplice outside the prison to illegally escape.
The authorities determined that the four managed to escape before 11:20 p.m. that day, though they did not specify how they were able to get past the security controls.
Their freedom lasted only a short time. Two were captured by officials from the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia on the same day as the escape, while the other two were apprehended the following day.
They were all returned to correctional facilities.
Initially, the Russian authorities reported only two escapees
One striking aspect of the case is the discrepancy between the information released by the prison authorities immediately after the incident and the facts recorded in the court ruling.
On July 10, the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yaroslavl region reported that only two foreigners had escaped from a prison.
At that time, the authorities indicated that the escapees were serving sentences for crimes related to illegal drug trafficking and that they had been apprehended thanks to a joint operation with the police and the Russian National Guard.
The regional press then identified the facility as Penal Colony No. 2 of Rybinsk.
However, the court ruling of October 27 establishes that there were four participants in the escape, all identified as Cuban citizens by the local press.
Two years in prison for the escape and an accomplice under investigation
During the judicial process, the four defendants admitted to the charges against them, which led to the case being examined through a special procedure provided for in Russian legislation.
The court found them guilty of escaping from a correctional facility through a prior agreement among several individuals, a behavior outlined in section 2 of article 313 of the Criminal Code of Russia.
Each one received a sentence of two years of incarceration, which must be served in a strict regime penitentiary colony.
The court also reported that the case related to the alleged external collaborator has been separated for independent processing. Their identity and any potential connection to the four Cubans have not been disclosed.
The ruling has not yet become final, so the legal proceedings are not considered definitively concluded.
The ages of the convicted individuals have not been disclosed, nor the sentences they were serving before escaping, or the circumstances that initially led them to prison in Russia.
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