The political prisoner is “practically held incommunicado” in the most rigorous Holguín prison Cuba Sí.
MIAMI, United States. – The Cubalex Legal Information Center reported this Monday that the Popular Provincial Court of Holguín posed “obstacles and irregularities” to the request for extra-penal leave for health reasons presented by Mailín Sánchez in favor of her husband, the political prisoner Yosvany Rosell García Caso, whose health seriously deteriorated after a 40-day hunger strike.
In its complaint, the NGO stated that the Court refused to sign the copy of the document, which left the family without an acknowledgment of receipt proving the delivery date and, therefore, without proof to complain about possible delays. The organization attributed this practice to a direct effect on access to legal resources within the established terms. In the words of lawyer Alain Espinosa, it is a “maneuver calculated to generate defenselessness.”
Cubalex also maintained that Court officials informed the inmate’s wife that the response could take up to 90 days, a period that the organization considered contrary to current regulations.
own Regulations of the Criminal Execution Law (Decree-Law 74/2023) establishes that, when faced with a request for health conditions, the Court must request a medical report from the prison authority “within the following 15 days”; Once the procedure has been decided, the medical commission must examine the prisoner and issue an opinion within a period that “does not exceed 30 days”, extendable for the same period in justified cases; and the Court resolves the granting or denial “within a period of 10 days” by order.
According to Cubalex, another questioned demand was asking the family for a “medical summary” that, according to the organization, the prison authorities themselves have refused to provide, despite the fact that the regulations provide for procedures in which the court requires medical information from the prison authority.
García Caso maintained a hunger strike for 40 days, between October 23 and December 1, which deteriorated his general state of health.
He Decree-Law 74/2023 provides for exceptional decisions when the medical situation is urgent: the Court can order provisional release during the evaluation or even “immediately” grant extra-penal leave “in cases of especially seriousness and worsening (…) with an imminent possibility of death”, as long as it is supported by documents and medical reports.
The 37-year-old was on hunger strike for 40 days demanding his freedom or be sent to an isolation cell in prison. He was admitted to the provincial hospital of Holguín, where he remained for about 10 days in the intermediate therapy room and handcuffed to a bed.
His family reported restrictions on access to the hospital, including the initial refusal to allow visitors.
Currently, the political prisoner is “practically held incommunicado” in the most rigorous Holguín prison Cuba Sí (also known as El Yayal), according to statements by his wife to CubaNet.
Yosvany García Caso He is serving a 15-year prison sentence for participating in the demonstrations on July 11, 2021 (11J) in Holguín. This was one of the largest sentences handed down against 9/11 protesters on the Island, who numbered more than 1,000.
