According to the organization, there are 30 minors on the list of political prisoners, 28 of whom are serving sentences and two are in criminal proceedings under precautionary measures.
MADRID, Spain.- According to the most recent report According to the NGO Prisoners Defenders (PD), at the end of July 2024 Cuba registered a total of 1,119 political and conscience prisoners. According to the document, in the last 12 months the number of prisoners political prisoners The number of people on the island has increased by 160, which means an average of more than 13 new people each month. This brings the total number of people who have been on this list in the last year to 1,193.
Prisoners Defenders classifies the current 1,119 prisoners into three main categories:
Prisoners of conscience: 860 people serving sentences imposed for expressing their political ideas or participating in activities considered subversive by the Cuban government.
Convicted of conscience: 223 individuals have been formally sentenced, mostly on charges related to their opposition to the regime.
Other political prisoners: 36 people who do not fit into the two previous categories, but who are also considered political prisoners by the organization.
One of the worrying aspects of the report is the impact of repression on minors. Currently, there are 30 Minors on the list of political prisoners28 of whom are serving sentences and two are undergoing criminal proceedings under precautionary measures without judicial supervision. These minors are held in penitentiary centres which, although euphemistically called “Comprehensive Training Schools”, operate under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior and not the Ministry of Education.
Of these minors, 15 have been convicted of the crime of sedition and face sentences averaging five years of imprisonment.
The situation of women, including trans women who remain imprisoned among men, is equally worrying. There are currently 119 female political prisoners, including minors.
Prisons Defenders also denounces the inhumane conditions in which prisoners live, highlighting the situation of 324 prisoners who suffer from serious medical pathologies without receiving adequate treatment. This situation is exacerbated by the lack of food, of medicinesthe mistreatment and repressive environment in Cuban prisons.
According to PD, since July 1, 2021, Cuba has registered a total of 1,581 political prisoners in its prisons, reflecting the continuity and worsening of repression on the Island.
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