The record kept by the independent associations Cubalex and Justicia 11J shows that the appeals of those convicted are barely serving to modify the sentences. According to him listto date, 40 people have received a response to the review of their sentence in the first instance, of which only one achieved notable success, going from one year in prison to being acquitted.
Omar Córdovez Hernández was sentenced by the Popular Municipal Court of Jovellanos at the beginning of January to 12 months of deprivation of liberty for instigation to commit a crime and the appeal was favorable for him, who was not only acquitted, but also his money and belongings were returned. confiscated. But his case is a drop in the ocean where the judges are reluctant to rectify even a comma to their colleagues at the municipal level. Another relatively significant case is that of Jesús David Rodríguez Prevost, who, after appealing the sentence of 3 years and 8 months, was reduced to 2 years and two months.
Most of the remaining cases, at least 32, have kept the sentence intact and some isolated cases have modified the form of imprisonment or reduced the time of internment by one month.
Despite the fact that the data confirms that the sentences are basically dictated by the system and that the result of appealing is almost null, the organizations that defend the rights of the prisoners have invited the families at all times to resist and not give up a right that could be useful to those close to you, however difficult it may be.
Emiyoslán, Mackyani and Yosney Román are three brothers convicted in that process and whose appeal begins this Friday
In this context, today begins the appeal trial of some of those convicted in La Güinera by the Municipal People’s Court of Diez de Octubre, in Havana. It is the same instance that sentenced 128 people to almost 2,000 years in prison in total, all of them protesters in that neighborhood and the Toyo corner.
Emiyoslán, Mackyani and Yosney Román are three brothers convicted in that process and whose appeal begins this Friday. His father, Emilio Román counted a Marti News that their children are in good health and looking forward to this day. “Emiyoslán turned 18 while already in prison and is currently in the Jovenes de Occidente Prison. He feels in good health despite the difficulties in the prisons, but he always tells me that when the appeal would finally be made to find out what they will determine in his case, if they put him to study and release him,” he said.
Yosney, the eldest, is 26 and is in the Combinado del Este maximum security prison, while her sister, 24, is in the El Guatao women’s prison, in La Lisa.
“They are young, but they are desperate, they are crazy to get out of those penitentiary centers and they hope that their sanction will be reduced in the appeal trial, because they were thrown out of them for too many years. In addition to sedition, they also imposed charges of attack and public disorder,” added Romero, who has said that another neighbor with three children in the same situation as his is also in the group of those who appealed and added that the families are prohibited from entering the court and must wait outside .
Marti News also reported this Thursday of the sentence for four demonstrators who participated in the 11J protests in the Havana neighborhood of El Palenque, in La Lisa, and who were sentenced to between 11 and 7 years in prison.
Among those affected is Walfrido Rodríguez Piloto, who told the media that the Prosecutor had been more benevolent on this occasion than the court, something rare and that the activist has fallen like a bucket of cold water, for whom they asked for 9 years in prison. and has ended up receiving 10.
Rodríguez Piloto is in the Valle Grande prison and has announced that he is willing to go on a hunger strike for justice
Rodríguez Piloto is in the Valle Grande prison and has announced that he is willing to go on a hunger strike for justice. José Eduardo Jardines Rodríguez, sentenced to 7 years in the same process, joins his protest.
The others affected are Richard Echavarría López, sentenced to 11 years, and Fdelián Hernández Bautista and Adonis Garvizo Otero, both with 9 years in prison. All were accused of instigation to commit a crime, public disorder, contempt and attack.
Rodríguez Piloto was also convicted of carrying and illegal possession of weapons and explosives. “The repressive media were the ones that started the blows against the demonstrators and to that action, the people reacted. So they want to take [las autoridades] the reaction that we had as a terrorist act when it was the repressors who started the violence. They threw stones and broke the windows of the currency store to blame us. They caused the town to turn around,” said the activist.
This weekRaucel Ocaña Parada, former prosecutor of Palma Soriano, in Santiago de Cuba and now exiled in Europe, said in an interview that the sentences are decided by the party and are imposed on the courts, which are not independent. Ocaña is in the process of applying for asylum in Switzerland.
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