HAVANA, January 14 (Mery Miranda, Cuba Press) - An independent Journalist, Víctor Rolando Arroyo, was sentenced to six months in jail in Pinar del Río, Cuba's westernmost province. The charge: hoarding toys.
The trial of journalist Víctor Rolando Arroyo had originally been scheduled -with 24 hours notice- for yesterday, January 13. About 100 dissidents appeared at the Provincial Tribunal for Pinar del Río province in a "silent show of support" for Arroyo, according to one of
the dissidents.
The court issued a statement postponing the trial indefinitely because "the files pertaining to the case had not been received from police" and sent Arroyo home.
Then someone slipped a citation under Arroyo's door last night to appear in court -reason unspecified- this morning. When Arroyo showed up Friday morning, court officers detained him and informed him that the trial would proceed at 2 p.m.
Word got out, nevertheless, and about 40 dissidents made their way to the courtroom through the morning.
The trial was moved ahead two hours and started at Noon in a courtroom crowded by members of Rapid Response Brigades, presumably ordinary citizens who, in spontaneous defense of the Revolution, irately beat up anyone who doesn't show unqualified support for the government.
Arroyo was accused of hoarding toys. Last Saturday, January 8, State Security agents searched his house and confiscated 140 toys, meant to be distributed to poor children in the province. Arroyo was arrested and released the next day.
Arroyo's attorney told the court today that the crime of hoarding under the Cuban penal code can only be incurred when the goods are held for resale.
"The trial had a political background," Arroyo told Cuba Press. "The prosecution fundamentally valued the supposed political character of the act of giving toys to poor children," said Arroyo.
He has 72 hours to appeal his conviction. His attorney said she would file the appeal today. |