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Prison guards
brutally beat jailed Cuban journalist
Reporters
Without Borders.
13 January 2004.
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| Rolando Arroyo |
Reporters Without Borders has strongly
condemned an assault against a journalist
who was brutally beaten by prison guards
in the provincial Guantánamo prison,
eastern Cuba, and urged the authorities
to punish his assailants and to protect
prisoners from further harm.
Victor Rolando Arroyo Carmona was taken
from his cell by three prison guards on
31 December and dragged to room where they
beat him about the face and body. They also
deliberately shut his leg in a door. He
told his wife Elsa González Padrón
in a telephone call on 7 January that he
was still suffering from the after effects
of the attack.
"It is the second time in a month
that a jailed journalist has been attacked,"
said Robert Ménard, secretary general
of Reporters Without Borders. "The
Cuban authorities are responsible for the
state of health of the 30 journalists imprisoned
in Cuba for having exercised their right
to freedom of opinion as guaranteed by several
international treaties ratified by this
country."
The journalist was attacked after complaining
about being transferred to Building 4B of
the prison where 235 common-law prisoners
are locked up in appalling conditions. Common-law
prisoners are often made use of by the authorities
to harass political prisoners.
The journalist's wife said she was also
very concerned about the state of health
of her husband who suffers from heart and
liver problems and whose blood pressure
is unstable. He was put in solitary confinement
during the summer of 2003 for protesting
against ill treatment meted out to another
prisoner.
Another independent imprisoned journalist
Juan Adolfo Fernández Saínz
was physically attacked by a common-law
prisoner on 6 December as he tried to dissuade
him from beating a fellow prisoner. No action
was taken against his assailant.
Arroyo Carmona was arrested with 26 other
independent journalists and 50 other dissidents
in an unprecedented crackdown in March 2003.
They were sentenced to terms from six to
28 years in prison.
More information about jailed journalists
is available on http://ww.rsf.org,
under "Cuba,
the world's biggest prison for journalists".
Reporters Without Borders
defends imprisoned journalists and press
freedom throughout the world, as well as
the right to inform the public and to be
informed, in accordance with Article 19
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Reporters Without Borders has nine national
sections (in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany,
Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the
United Kingdom), representatives in Abidjan,
Bangkok, Istanbul, Montreal, Moscow, New
York, Tokyo and Washington and more than
a hundred correspondents worldwide.
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