(EFE).- The organization Prisoners Defenders (PD) denounced this Monday that until the end of February, in Cuba there were 1,066 political prisoners and conscience, of which 34 are under 18 years of age.
In its usual monthly calculation, the organization, based in Madrid, affirmed that all the prisoners that appear on its list have been tortured and that this was “demonstrated by the detailed study of 101 random cases denounced by Prisoners Defenders before the Committee Against Torture of the United Nations (CAT)”.
According to PD, of the 34 prisoners under 18 – the minimum criminal age in Cuba is 16 – half (17) are being prosecuted or have been convicted of the crime of sedition. The average penalty for those sentenced in that age range is five years in prison.
The report specifies that this high number, however, does not include many other children who have already left the list for having fully served their sentences. The prisons that are supposed to be for minors are actually completely penitentiary centers called Comprehensive Training Schools.
On the list there are 34 prisoners under the age of 18 –the minimum criminal age in Cuba is 16– half (17) are being prosecuted or have been convicted of the crime of sedition
“Of our current list, 210 protesters have been charged with sedition and at least 208 have already been sentenced to an average of 10 years in prison each,” the organization added.
According to data from the NGO, at least 116 women (including several of the transgender gender) still have criminal charges and political and conscience convictions. “All trans women in prison of conscience have been and are imprisoned among men, suffering indescribable situations for their sexual condition.”
PD considered that in all these processes there have been no guarantees for the detainees.
Among the procedural failures and human rights violations that the NGO identifies in these processes, the “absence of judicial protection for the precautionary deprivation of liberty”, the “absence of independent defense lawyers” and “accusations” that “without exception, are supported solely by witnesses dependent on the Communist Party” of Cuba (PCC, the only legal one).
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