(EFE).- The United States criticized this Friday the “fabricated charges” attributed in the first sentences of up to 20 years in prison for twenty protesters who participated in the anti-government protests of the July 11 lastwho seek to “intimidate” and “suffocate future protests” on the Island.
This was stated to Efe by an official from the State Department, who requested anonymity when commenting on the recent convictions, the first for sedition decreed by the Cuban Justice over last year’s protests.
“No one should face charges, no one should face imprisonment for exercising a right that is as universal in Cuba as it should be anywhere else,” the source said.
Regarding the judicial process, he considered that the Cuban officials presented “fabricated or unfair charges, such as sedition,” and that the “harsh prison sentences” are aimed at “stifling future peaceful protests and intimidating critics of the regime.”
“No one should face charges, no one should face imprisonment for exercising a right that is as universal in Cuba as it should be anywhere else.”
On July 11, the largest anti-government protests in decades took place in Cuba, spontaneous and massive demonstrations calling for freedom and changes on the island.
“We believe that the Cuban people (…) have every right to continue expressing their desire for freedom, and we condemn the failures of the Cuban government, in order to protect these universal rights and respond to the most basic needs of the people,” he added. .
The Cuban Justice, in a ruling by the Provincial Court of Holguín, sentenced on Monday 20 protesters for seditionincluding five minors, to between five years of limitation of freedom and 20 years in prison, according to the NGO Justicia 11J.
The Government of the Island did not publicly disseminate these rulings and the official media have not reported on the ruling to date.
In a recent report, the General Prosecutor of the Republic reported the prosecution of 790 people for acts related to the July 11 protests. Of the total number of defendants, 55 are between 16 and 17 years old.
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