CAMAGÜEY, January 18 (Normando Hernández, CPIC) – Jailed
journalist Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández was released yesterday
after serving two years of a four-year sentence for practicing journalism
independently of the official media.
Díaz was released in the custody of his parents and given a document
stating that the rest of his sentence had been suspended.
He had been declared a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty
International and was awarded the 1999 International Press Freedom Award by the
Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York.
Díaz was the director and one of the founding members of the
Independent Journalists Cooperative in Ciego de Ávila, in central Cuba.
He was arrested on January 18, 1999 and brought to trial the next day, under the
charge of "social dangerousness."
Versión original
en español
CubaNet does not require sole rights from its
contributors. We authorize the reproduction and distribution of this article
as long as the source is credited.
| 