HAVANA, Cuba. – The political prisoner Alieski Calderín Acosta has been confined for more than six months in a punishment cell without receiving medical attention, according to his brother, Anieski Calderín Acosta, reported by telephone on November 26.
Alieski Calderín Acosta is a prisoner in the maximum rigor Kilo 8 prison, located in the province Camaguey.
His brother reported that he is kept isolated in a cell without electricity or water. In addition, he assured that the mattress was removed at 6:00 in the morning and was not returned until 10:00 at night.
Likewise, he highlighted that the political prisoner is not provided with a blanket or sheets to cover himself, even though the punishment cell is cold and humid. He also emphasized that when he went out to meet him during the visit on November 25, Alieski Calderín had a strong cough and cold symptoms.
Anieski Calderín Acosta also added that both the director of the prison, Lieutenant Colonel Juan Miguel Sánchez Duarte, and his second in command, almost every week threaten his brother with keeping him in the same conditions if he persists in his rebellious stance. They have even gone so far as to assure him that “from one moment to the next they are not going to give him a mattress.”
The young man emphasized that when he met with his brother during the visit, he found him “very thin, emaciated and tired,” and that he had developed a fever.
Likewise, he warned about the fact that “a long time” passes without any military or prison personnel going to the section where the prisoner is held, because in that most rigorous penitentiary center, he noted, there are hardly any guards left, and the Doctors go to the prison once a month or less.
Alieski Calderín Acosta, 36 years old, is a bricklayer and resident in the head municipality of the province of Camagüey. He appears registered as a political prisoner by the international human rights defense group Prisoners Defenders.
According to the copy of his sentence, Calderín Acosta was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the alleged crime of “sabotage”, for having thrown a Molotov cocktail in the early hours of November 4, 2012 at the El Encanto store, located on the boulevard of the city of Camagüey, belonging to the chain of Currency Collection Stores.
