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EU
Condemns Conviction of Cuban Dissidents
VOA
News, 14 May 2004.
The European Union has strongly condemned
the recent convictions and sentencings of
13 human rights dissidents and journalists
by the Cuban government.
In a statement released Thursday in the
name of the EU presidency, the bloc said
the defendants had been punished for exercising
their rights to free expression and assembly.
The statement said the European Union deplored
the disproportionate severity of the sentences
handed down to the defendants. Nine were
ordered jailed for seven years, while four
others were sentenced to house arrest.
The organization recalled the resolution
passed last month by the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights condemning the
Cuban government's convictions one year
ago of 75 dissidents.
It cited reports that some prisoners had
suffered from ill-treatment and ill health
and urged the Cuban authorities to comply
with international human rights standards.
A number of former communist governments
seeking EU membership - those of Bulgaria,
Romania, and three former Yugoslav states
- joined in the declaration against communist
Cuba.
Earlier this week, prominent Cuban dissident
Elizardo Sanchez charged that there are
about 100,000 people in prison in Cuba today,
compared to 4,000 before President Fidel
Castro seized power in 1959. Mr. Sanchez,
of the non-governmental Cuban Commission
for Human Rights and National Reconciliation,
said 300 of those prisoners are behind bars
for political crimes.
Some information for this report provided
by AFP.
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