Central Europe Online.
January 18, 2001.
Cuba does not react to notes, Pilip, Bubenik in prison
PRAGUE, Jan 17, 2001 -- (CTK - Czech News Agency) The Foreign Ministry has
not yet received any official reply from Cuba to two protest notes against the
detention of Ivan Pilip and Jan Bubenik, deputy foreign minister Hynek Kmonicek
said today adding that according to the latest information they had been taken
to prison.
Kmonicek said the ministry did not know yet of what MP Pilip and ex-student
activist Bubenik had been accused, and that they continued to be denied any
legal assistance and contact with the Czech diplomatic mission in Cuba. Kmonicek
said that according to the latest information Pilip, from the right-wing
opposition Freedom Union, and Bubenik had been taken to the Havana prison of
Villa Marista where dissidents are held.
He added that the ministry did not yet know of what offenses they had been
accused. The ministry's spokesman Ales Pospisil said that the ministry had been
concerned about the two detainees being denied any legal assistance. "For
four days when their freedom has been limited and when they have been
interrogated, they have not been announced any accusation and they have been
prevented from contacting the Czech diplomatic mission which amounts to an
obvious and flagrant violation of international law."
The first note demanding that Pilip and Bubenik be released was handed by
the ministry to Cuban charge d'affaires David Paulovich on Monday. In it
Kmonicek among others protested against the fact that several days after
detention the ministry had not got any official information on the reasons of
the two Czechs detention. The other protest note was handed to Paulovich today.
Pospisil said that the ministry was taking all steps for the release of Pilip
and Bubenik.
According to the Cuban party paper Granma the two Czechs were accused of
having maintained "subversive contacts" in Cuba as "agents of the
USA." According to Cuban authorities the two Czechs had "violated
their tourist status" in Cuba.
U.S. Freedom House Denounces Detention of Pilip in Cuba
NEW YORK, Jan 17, 2001 -- (CTK - Czech News Agency) The U.S. prestigious
non- governmental Freedom House organization promoting freedom around the world
expressed solidarity on Tuesday with two Czech citizens detained in Cuba and
called on the international community to force Cuba to free them.
Freedom House spokesman Michael Goldfarb told CTK that the Freedom House
condemned the detention and expressed solidarity with Ivan Pilip and Jan Bubenik
in their effort to protect human rights, democracy and freedom and called on the
international community to emphatically denounce the detention of private
persons.
It also called on the Cuban government to immediately release them. He
described the detention of the former Czech finance minister and Freedom Union
deputy Ivan Pilip and one of the student leaders of the 1989 "Velvet
Revolution" in Czechoslovakia Jan Bubenik as a "serious event."
The Freedom House is the first influential organization to issue a statement on
the detention of Pilip and Bubenik.
The Cuban authorities detained the two men on Friday in the Ciego de Avila
province on the pretext that they violated tourist stay rules and met local
Cuban dissidents. Then the authorities accused Pilip and Bubenik that "as
United States agents" they carried out subversive contacts in Cuba and said
that both would be put on trial.
The daily Granma, an organ of the Cuban Communists, said that the behavior
and the route of the movement of Pilip and Bubenik in Cuba was the same as the
route of many previous envoys of the counter-revolution organization "Freedom
House," an institution established by the United States government for
providing means to traitors of their homeland who are engaged in conspiracy
against the Cuban revolution.
Czech Charge D'Affaires to Be Received at Cuban Foreign Ministry
PRAGUE, Jan 17, 2001 -- (CTK - Czech News Agency) The Czech Charge
D'Affaires will be received at the Cuban Foreign Ministry today in connection
with the detention of Freedom Union deputy Ivan Pilip and another Czech citizen
Jan Bubenik in Cuba on Friday, Czech Deputy Foreign Minister Martin Palous said
on Czech Radio today.
He said that the meeting was scheduled to take place at 3:00 p.m. CET. Pilip
and Bubenik were detained by the Cuban authorities for alleged meeting opponents
of the communist regime in Cuba. On Tuesday the Cuban authorities described both
Czech citizens as U.S. agents and said that they would be put on trial,
according to the Cuban daily Granma.
The Czech Foreign Ministry has handed notes to the Cuban Charge D'Affaires
in the Czech Republic demanding the release of both Czechs. However, the Cuban
side has not so far officially reacted to the protests.
The fact that the Czech Charge D'Affaires will be received by a Cuban deputy
foreign minister is an extraordinary situation, Palous said. He added, however,
that the Czech Republic's demand that both arrested Czechs be released and
allowed to establish a contact with the Czech diplomatic representation in Cuba
remained. The Czech authorities also would like to know on the basis of was
clause Pilip and Bubenik were detained. "So far this is only ideological
constructions which we learnt about from Granma," Palous said. Deputy
Foreign Minister Hynek Kmonicek said on Tuesday that according to the latest
information, both men were transferred to Havana's Villa Marista prison where
dissidents are kept. They have been denied legal aid and contact with the Czech
diplomatic office.
Palous said that the Czech side intended to address the Commission for Human
Rights in Geneva in this matter. "We will wait and see that the Cuban side
will do during 72 hours which it has taken to make a decision on the future fate
of Pilip and Bubenik," Palous said. The 72 hours will have expired at
midday CET on Thursday, which, Palous said, represented the "violation of
elementary principles," because Pilip and Bubenik were detained last
Friday. "We have been given such an uncertain formulation that they are
actually not detained but that a certain administration proceeding is taking
place with them.
This means that the deadline, which the Cuban prosecutor requested to study
the matter, began on Monday afternoon, after Pilip and Bubenek have been three
days in the hands of the Cuban authorities," Palous added.
Cuban Ambassador Says Evidence Against Pilip, Bubenik Exists
PRAGUE, Jan 17, 2001 -- (CTK - Czech News Agency) The Cuban government
undoubtedly has evidence against deputy Ivan Pilip and Jan Bubenik, who were
detained in Cuba on Friday, and will release it at a suitable moment, Cuban
charge d'affaires to Prague David Paulovich told journalists today.
"We have never accused anybody without evidence," Paulovich said
before today's evening meeting with representatives of the Czech Foreign
Ministry. The present diplomatic relations between Cuba and the Czech Republic
are the worst ever. "The fact that two Czech citizens including one deputy
breached Cuban laws will undoubtedly not contribute to their improvement,"
Paulovich said. He could not answer what sentence the detained could receive or
when they could go on trial.
Pilip and Bubenik will be brought before court and it is up to it to decide,
Paulovich added. Cuba is not afraid of the consequences of its acts, he
continued. "Cuba has survived aggressions, almost nuclear attacks and so it
does not fear similar things. I think that we have survived almost everything,"
he said.
The Czech side has condemned the fact that the Cuban part has not provided
so far any explanation of Pilip's and Bubenik's detention. Deputy Foreign
Ministry Hynek Kmonicek said that it was difficult to take any official stand
when there was no official statement by the Cuban authorities. The only source
of information is an article from the Granma daily, which was handed over to the
Czech side. Paulovich said that the article was an official stand of the Cuban
government. Granma wrote that Pilip and Bubenik maintained subversive contacts
as "U.S. agents" in Cuba and that they would face a trial.
Pilip and ex-student activist Bubenik were on a private trip to Cuba when
detained. Czech Foreign Ministry spokesman Ales Pospisil today said the ministry
regarded as absurd the accusation by Cuban authorities that Pilip and Bubenik
were spying for the U.S. Pospisil said the ministry was unsettled by Cuban
officials' denial to both men of the right to legal help.
Czech Envoy Seeks Release of Accused Spies in Havana
PRAGUE, Jan 17, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) The Czech ambassador to Cuba
was expected to appeal for the release of two Czech nationals accused of spying
for the United States at the foreign ministry in Havana later Wednesday, an
official said.
Prague wants permission to speak with Jan Bubenik and Ivan Pilip, a former
deputy minister, and has called for them to be released immediately, said Martin
Palous, deputy foreign affairs minister.
The official Communist Party newspaper Granma said the two were arrested for
violating their tourist visas and acting on orders from the Cuban-American mafia
to try to make "subversive contacts with counterrevolutionary residents"
outside the Cuban capital.
Palous said Prague had not been officially informed by Havana about the
nature of the crimes the men have committed. ((c) 2001 Agence France Presse)
((c) 2001 CTK - Czech News Agency)
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