Havana Cuba. – Kenilia Ramos Beltrán, wife of the inmate Arquímedes Milán Bustamante, confined for a year and a half in the Combinado del Este prison for the alleged crimes of attempted “attack” and “damage”, denounced in conversation with CubaNet the abuses to which her partner is subjected in that penitentiary center.
According to Kenilia, her husband “takes away visits [regulares] and he has only been allowed one conjugal visit during his time in detention.”
In addition, they denied him the reduction of his sentence as a disciplinary measure for claiming with the head of the camp, Reinerio Pico, the violation of his rights as an inmate.
Archimedes was confined together with the political prisoner Luis Robles Elizastigui in buildings 2 and 3 of the Combinado del Este and is currently in the so-called Ground Zero, a minimum security camp next to the prison.
Kenilia assures that she has met with several prison authorities of the Combinado del Este, including Pico. That soldier “doesn’t say anything exactly and doesn’t look people in the face,” he says.
“In the camp, Pico is believed to be the father of the inmates. There they mistreat them, the visits are at whatever time they want and, when a family member tries to reach them to ask what is happening with an inmate, they take away their pass, as happened to Arquímides.”
Kenilia’s husband was sentenced to five years in prison by the Western Territorial Military Court (El Calvario).
The crime
On January 2, 2021, says his wife, after leaving a family party in the Capri district of the Arroyo Naranjo municipality, and under a drunken state, Arquímides asked the custodians of the “Fernando Álvarez Pérez” Polyclinic to light a candle for him. cigarette, because the matchbox he was carrying with him did not work.
Kenilia adds that, “since the guards didn’t give him a break, he said that this country was shit, that it had to fall and other things. Immediately, the guards went to report to the Capri Police Station – which is next to the polyclinic – that he wanted to give the Servicentro a fire.
According to his sentence, due to the euphoria caused by the ingestion of alcoholic beverages, Milan Bustamante crossed the street, took the pump from the Servicentro Capri and, on several occasions, tried to set it on fire.
Quickly, the security agents of the polyclinic went to the Servicentro to stop him. Kenilia saw when the police beat him and threw him to the ground at the time of the arrest, he indicates.
The legal battle begins
On June 28, 2021, the trial against Archimedes was held in the Military Court of El Calvario. According to his wife, the prisoner was transferred with his hands and feet chained “as if he were a criminal.”
That day he was sentenced to five years in prison for the crimes of attempted “attack” and “damage”.
Not being satisfied with the sentence, Ramos Beltrán requested, through the lawyer representing her husband, a “judicial inspection procedure” and a review of the case.
The request for these procedures indicates that it was proven that, “in no way”, would there be a fire or any damage to the Servicentro del Capri, since, according to what Captain Alexander Columbié, expert officer of Breakdowns, Explosives and Fires, declared, the The spark generated by the matchbox was not enough to start a fire or damage solid combustible materials (hoses).
Likewise, the request regrets that the expert opinion was not taken into account where it was concluded that the matchbox was not working and that the Servicentro had not been operating for four days.
However, the military chamber of the People’s Supreme Court denied the special procedure in favor of Arquímides, so he must continue to serve his sentence at Ground Zero of the Combinado del Este.
According to a Supreme Court document reviewed by CubaNetArchimedes never ruled out the crackling of the matchbox he was carrying as an igneous source capable of unleashing fire. However, the combustion did not detonate because there were no residues or gases in the nozzle of the gasoline dispenser.
These circumstances were not known to the defendant, which “reveals his criminal will,” says the Supreme Court.
Political connotation?
Kenilia considers that her husband’s sanction could have political connotations because “a few years ago in front of the Hotel Saratoga and after an altercation with the police, he shouted ‘Down with communism!'”.
“He also said that this had to fall, and that the Commander had to die. Apparently all this also had to do with his sentence, which could have been many more years because the military prosecutor entered the trial with [la petición de] 20 years for sabotage,” he says.
Regarding the case, Cubalex’s lawyer Giselle Morfi points out that “if there was talk of sabotage at some point, there were political motivations, because this is a crime against State Security.”
According to Archimedes himself, in a quick phone call from prison, the crime of sabotage could not be proven.
On the other hand, Morfi believes that “at no time” was there an attack and “much less damage.”
Today, and with no more resources to appeal to, Kenilia demands justice “so that abuses are not continued within the Combinado del Este.”
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