The Supreme Court of Cuba announced Wednesday, March 16 the sentence of six to thirty years in prison for “having committed and caused serious disturbances and acts of vandalism” of 128 Cubans who had participated in the protests of July 11 and 12, 2021 in two neighborhoods of Havana, Diez de Octubre and La Guinera, considered the most violent on those days.
Of the 129 defendants whose trial took place between December 14 and February 3, 128 were found guilty of “sedition” and “theft”, and two of them – Dayron Martin Rodriguez and Miguel Paez Estiven – were been sentenced to thirty years in prison, said the Supreme Court (TSP), without specifying the age of the convicts.
According to the TSP statement, protesters overturned vehicles including law enforcement patrol cars and threw rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails at police facilities and Ministry of Justice officers. inside, causing ” injuries (…) and significant material damage..
serious economic crisis
The government said on January 25 that 790 people, including 55 under the age of 18, had been charged over the July protests. By that date, 172 other people had been sentenced.
Miami-based human rights NGO Cubalex said the sentences handed down in previous trials of July 11 protesters were excessive and in some cases violated due process guarantees. Laritza Diversent, director of this NGO, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the sentences handed down on Wednesday set a precedent that will have consequences for Cuban society.
To the cries of ” Freedom ! » and of ” We are hungry ! », thousands of Cubans demonstrated on July 11, 2021 in some fifty cities across the country. Cuba is going through its worst economic crisis in nearly thirty years, under the effect of the pandemic and American sanctions, pushing more and more inhabitants into exile every day.