The Lady in White Sissi Abascal Zamora was sentenced this Thursday to six years in prison for her participation in the protests on July 11 (11J) on the island. The also activist of the Party for Democracy Pedro Luis Boitel, was accused of the alleged crimes of contempt, attack and public disorder.
According reported to Radio Television MartíArmando Abascal, his father, the Municipal Court of Jovellanos, in Matanzas, ratified the sentence requested by the Prosecutor’s Office in the trial of November 3 after his participation in the protests that took place in the town of Carlos Rojas. In addition, he explained that an appeal was filed against the sentence and that it will last ten business days for the decision to be known.
The former political prisoner also said that after the first ten days of the trial, his daughter, who is now in home confinement, must be transferred to the Matanzas women’s prison and wait behind bars for “the resolution of the appeal.”
The 23-year-old activist’s mother, Lady in White Annia Zamora, said to Cuban newspaper that his daughter was accused by the major Silvia Martínez Montero, the policy of the Police of Jovellanos. “The trial was rigged. The three lawyers who worked that day made a very good defense, but it is sad that this work is not enough. It is a single power and the Prosecutor’s Office manipulates everything. Sissi was defended by a lawyer from Jovellanos, who his name is Vladimir, but their hands are tied, “he said.
Zamora also denounced that on July 11 his daughter was beaten by several civilian-clad law enforcement officers in front of the Carlos Rojas police station when they tried to find out where the opposition Armando Abascal was being detained.
“The trial was rigged. The three lawyers who worked that day made a very good defense, but it is sad that that work is not enough.”
“The protest had already ended, everyone had withdrawn, my daughters Lisi Abascal, Sissi Abascal and I remained,” he said. “Then a bus arrived full of women in civilian clothes, between 30 and 40, who attacked us horribly. We suffered injuries, my daughter Lisi was hit on the head with a bottle and she had to receive stitches.”
After knowing the six-year sentence of Sissi Abascal Zamora, Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, asked in their social networks: “Where are the henchmen who beat her?” “In Cuba there are no laws that protect you, much less justice. Freedom and justice for Sissi and all Cuban political prisoners without exclusion,” he demanded.
As collected the prosecution’s accusationDuring the protests, Sissi Abascal Zamora shouted phrases such as: “homeland and life,” “down with the Castros” and “down with the Revolution,” and that she “asked the local people to join her.” The Prosecutor’s Office also argued that the young woman placed a white sheet on the branch of a tree in the park that read “homeland and life”, while the protesters shouted “phrases against the revolutionary process” and expressions such as “henchmen”, ” murderers “,” police officers “and” also playing with sticks in cans and cauldrons “.
The legal advisory NGO Cubalex has documented 1,271 detainees as a result of the spontaneous demonstrations of 11J. Of these, at least 659 are still in prison, and, according to a recent report, 42 convicted in summary trials and eight in ordinary trials have been verified.
Cubalex considers of particular concern “the use of the figure of sedition to impose exemplary sanctions on at least 122 people”, with fiscal requests of up to 30 years in prison.
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