Yahoo! September 6, 2001.
MIAMI, 5 (AP) - A man accused of torturing dissidents in Cuba was indicted
for allegedly lying about his past to obtain U.S. citizenship.
The indictment accuses Eriberto Mederos of being of bad moral character,
falsely denying a history of torture and denying past Communist Party ties when
he sought U.S. residency, in violation of a Cold War-era disclosure requirement.
"He is somebody who might very well be taken back by the Cuban
government,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Tamen said Wednesday at Mederos'
first court appearance.
Mederos, 78, was held temporarily on $500,000 bail. A hearing was set for
Friday.
Former Cuban political prisoners have accused him of using electrical
torture on them at a Havana psychiatric hospital from 1968 to 1978.
Mederos said he worked as an orderly there since the 1940s, but administered
electroshock therapy only on doctors' orders. He came to the United States in
the 1980s, was identified as a torturer in a 1991 book and became a citizen in
1993.
The criminal charge carries a possible 10-year prison sentence and loss of
U.S. citizenship. | 
