MIAMI, United States. – The organization Prisoners Defenders wakefulness a report sent by Cuba to the Committee on the Rights of the Child of the United Nations (UN) in which the Cuban regime admits having sentenced at least 39 minors after the protests of July 11, 2021 (11J).
According to the complaint by Prisoners Defenders, the report recognizes the conviction of minors for “crimes of sedition, sabotage (through military court), attack, contempt and public disorder”, classified as illegal by entities such as the UN itself or the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Humans (IACHR).
The report presented by the Cuban regime affirms that “488 people have been sanctioned, including 39 young people between the ages of 16 and 18, mainly for crimes of sedition, sabotage, robbery with force and violence, assault, contempt and public disorder.”
In relation to minors under 16 years of age, Prisoners Defenders questions the Cuban assertions that “administrative measures, reorientation and specialized education” are applied to them, pointing out the lack of resources and evident interest of the Cuban Government in this area.
The organization also criticizes that the centers for minors are run by the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) and not the Ministry of Education (MINED), calling them prisons. “They have failed to say that they are sent to Switzerland to learn languages,” ironically Prisoners Defenders in its statement.
Regarding the sentences applied to the 39 minors recognized in the report, Prisoners Defenders indicates that all were sentenced to imprisonment, although some were “benefited” with sentence subsidies, always under threat:
- “Six minors have been sentenced to imprisonment without subsidy, languishing and tortured in prison;
- “11 minors are deprived of liberty and with forced labor, languishing in forced labor camps, tortured, and under strong threats;
- “11 minors are sentenced to forced labor, without internment (sleeping at home) and under strong threats and harassment;
- “11 minors are sentenced to deprivation of liberty, subsidized with limitation of freedom under strong threats and harassment.”
The report of the Cuban regime also details that the sanctions of deprivation of liberty fell on 383 defendants, including six adolescents between 16 and 18 years of age, taking into account the seriousness and circumstances in which the events occurred, their degree of participation and personal conduct.
For its part, Prisoners Defenders demands the review of these sentences and greater transparency in Cuban justice.
