MIAMI, United States. – The Provincial Court of Havana sentenced a person found guilty of possession, marketing and distribution of illicit substances, including synthetic cannabinoids and hashish, to 15 years in prison, according to a report of the Television News (NTV).
The sentence was handed down after a trial held by the People’s Provincial Court of the capital, in which, according to the authorities, witness, documentary and expert evidence was presented, and 45 people were linked to drug-related crimes.
According to the report, the accused was arrested “red-handed on public roads” thanks to the actions of the sector chief and officers of the Technical Directorate of Investigations (DTI) of the Diez de Octubre municipality.
During the home search, the authorities found “a considerable sum of money, a digital scale and other assets used” in illicit activities.
The prosecutor of the case, cited by the official newspaper Granmahighlighted aggravating factors of the crime such as the handling of large quantities of drugs, the participation of minors and the recidivism of the accused. These circumstances, as the prosecutor explained in statements to the press, can lead to more severe penalties: “We have in our Penal Code (…) if it involves excessively large amounts, if it involves international trafficking, if minors are used of age (…). All these circumstances aggravate the sanctioning framework.”
The authorities cited by the official press described the trial as “exemplary.” According to the report of the NTV“in the criminal process, the legal guarantees were complied with and due process during the investigative phase of the preparatory phase file was based on the procedural guarantees of the accused on the basis of what is expressed in the Constitution of the Republic.”
The sanction of 15 years in prison was described as “proportionate”, “fair” and “adequate” by the court. “We understand that it is a proportional sanction, a fair and appropriate sanction tempered with the high harmfulness of the acts that you committed,” an official voice was heard saying during the reading of the ruling in the NTV.
Granma It also reported that the trial included 45 people linked to drug-related crimes, and that the defendant’s illegal actions were carried out “for purposes of personal enrichment.”
This exemplary trial was framed, according to the television report, in the context of the “National Exercise to Prevent and Confront Crime in Cuba”.
