Havana Cuba. — After 10 months in prison, at least six of the 17 July 11, 2021 (11J) protesters sentenced to prison in San Antonio de los Baños, Artemisa province, were released this Friday, their relatives informed CubaNet.
Maribel Cruz, mother of John of the Crosswho broadcast live the anti-government protests of that day, confirmed the information via telephone to this newspaper: “We are going to look for him right now at the Güines prison.”
The woman also explained that the families had appealed the sentence three days ago and that the Court decided to change her son’s sentence, from six years in prison, to five years in prison without internment.
Like Yoan, the sentences of five protesters from the town were modified, according to what Yudit María Ramírez Claro, wife of Miguel Díaz Sosa, told CubaNet.
The other five beneficiaries, who must serve their sanction “from home to work”, are Yordan Brook (5 years), Christian Reyes (7 years), Osdany Antonio Ricardo (4 years), Yunier Claro la Guardia (4 years) and Miguel Diaz Zaldivar (4 years old).
Yoan de la Cruz, 27, was arrested twelve days after the 11J protests. His mother, Maribel Cruz, reported that four police officers went looking for him that day, who arrested him without a court order. The Cuban authorities accused him of the alleged crimes of “public disorder” and “disrespect.” In September of last year, the Artemisa Provincial Prosecutor’s Office announced that his prosecutor’s request was eight years in prison.
Sentences between three and 10 years
In mid-December 2021, 17 11J protesters in San Antonio de los Baños were prosecuted. Through the sentence, known at the end of March 2022, it was learned that they had been sentenced to between three and 10 years in prison.
The NGO Prisoners Defenders (PD) reported that at the end of April of this year, six young people convicted of the 11J protests in the province of Holguín had their sentences commuted to house arrest.
The massive 11J protests broke out in San Antonio de los Baños and spread to more than sixty locations in the country. Prisoners Defenders currently registers 1,015 political prisoners on the island, of which 874 are 11J protesters, who have received sentences of up to 30 years in prison.
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