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Amnesty International
urges release of prisoners of conscience
in Cuba on one-year anniversary of arrests
Organization Criticizes Remote Detention,
Ill-Treatment of Dissidents
Amnesty
International,
March 17, 2004.
(New York) - In a new 37-page report, Amnesty
International details the current physical
and mental state of 75 prisoners of conscience
arrested during the March 2003 crackdown
in Cuba. At that time, scores of dissidents
were detained after a series of targeted
sweeps, some of whom were subsequently released.
The majority of those arrested were subjected
to hasty and manifestly unfair trials and
sentenced to long prison terms.
"Detention of dissidents for the peaceful
expression of their beliefs for even one
day flouts international human rights safeguards,"
stated Curt Goering, Deputy Executive Director
of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). "In
a country where the yardstick on human rights
is already warped, the imprisonment of these
prisoners of conscience for more than a
year is a revealing-and extremely distressing-measure
of just how far the situation in Cuba has
deteriorated."
The report, Cuba: One Year Too Many: Prisoners
of Conscience from the March 2003 Crackdown,gives
an account of the conditions in which the
detainees are held. Amnesty International
has received some allegations of ill-treatment
by prison guards or by other prisoners with
the complicity of prison guards. In one
case, on December 31, 2003, Victor Rolando
Arroyo Carmona was reportedly taken from
his cell and dragged to the floor while
three prison guards struck his face and
body. Guards allegedly trapped his leg in
a door to immobilize him during the beating.
Amnesty International denounces the practice
of deliberately incarcerating these prisoners
of conscience at extreme distances from
their homes and families. This practice
contravenes United Nations principles and
can be construed as an additional penalty
imposed upon the prisoners and their families.
For example, Normando Hernández González,who
lives in Vertientes in the province of Camagüey,
is serving his sentence in Pinar del Río
province, nearly 700 kilometers away
Written and telephone communications between
many prisoners and their families have also
been restricted, reportedly as a form of
harassment by prison officials. In addition,
in the case of nine prisoners of conscience
held in Kilo 8 prison, authorities have
reportedly made efforts to deter prisoners
from carrying out activities, such as studying
the Bible, by threatening to suspend family
visits.
There have also been allegations that prisoners
have been held in solitary confinement for
extended periods and received inadequate
access to medical care. According to reports,
at the time of his arrest Oscar Espinosa
Chepe had already been diagnosed with chronic
cirrhosis of the liver, liver failure and
bleeding from the digestive tract, among
other illnesses. Since his arrest, his health
has reportedly deteriorated.
"The detention of these prisoners
of conscience is in and of itself a crime,"
explained Eric L. Olson, Advocacy Director
for the Americas for AIUSA. "Holding
them in conditions that fall well short
of international standards, depriving them
of family visits and neglecting their medical
needs is a way to punish them again and
again. Amnesty International is renewing
its call for the immediate and unconditional
release of all prisoners of conscience."
Amnesty International has recorded a total
of 88 prisoners of conscience in Cuba.
For a copy of the report
Cuba:
One Year Too Many: Prisoners of Conscience
from the March 2003 Crackdown, please
see: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR250052004.
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