Monr activists went to the Provincial Court of Havana to demand the release of Mario Alberto Hernández Leyva, arrested again after fulfilling his conviction.
Madrid, Spain.- Activists of the OPPOSITOR MOVEMENT FOR A NEW REPUBLIC (Monr) This week presented a Habeas Corpus appeal in the Provincial Popular Court of Havana in favor of the political prisoner Mario Alberto Hernández Leyva, who remains held in the east combined since mid -August.
According to explained The president of the Monr, José Díaz Silva, activists Evis Yuneiki García Coto and Tony Alberto Salazar Deulofeo went to the Court to present the appeal, but initially they were denied the reception of the document claiming that it was essential to have the number of cause, the crime and the instruction, data that the applicants did not possess.
Given the insistence of the activists, the secretary sent them to the dungeons where the defendants are received for trial, and it was there that they managed to obtain the file number and know the positions: “denial of help” and “disobedience”.
Hernández Leyva had been released on August 13 after turning two years for “resistance” and “contempt”, but was arrested that same day. He was in Forced disappearance. It only learned of his whereabouts when he managed to communicate and said that the security of the State notified him that he had to comply between five and six months for the alleged crime of disobedience, without mediating any judgment.
It was taken first to Villa Marista (Section 21), then to Vivac and finally to the East Combined, maximum security prison where it currently remains.
Habeas Corpus has been presented to demand that the foundations of its arrest be clarified and its right to due process is guaranteed.
Hernández Leyva had been sentenced in July 2024 for the crimes of “resistance” and “contempt” and sent to prison 1580, in Havana, after almost a year of political imprisonment without trial since 2023. In January 2024 he was released, and since March 2025 he had Precautionary measures granted by the Inter -American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
The agency pointed out that Hernández Leyva had been repeatedly arrested since 2023, whose arrests have been reported beating, transfers to punishment cells, torture, coercion and lack of medical assistance, which resulted in a “deterioration of its health status, with signs of malnutrition and mental involvement”.
How to make a corpus habeas from Cuba?
According to The Cubalex Legal Advisory Center explainedanyone can elaborate a Habeas corpusa document that can make a difference in situations of arbitrary detentions. It is essential to identify the corresponding court, and in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Law in Cuba, if the arrest comes from agents of the Interior Ministry (Minint), Habeas Corpus appears before the Provincial Court. Although the law indicates that, in specific cases, it should be directed to the Supreme Court, the practice demonstrates that in most cases it is presented directly to the Provincial Court.
Cubalex’s legal team suggests the following steps to prepare the document:
- Include information from the applicant: Name of the person who presents the resource, without having a direct relationship with the detainee. The detained person may present the petition by himself or through third parties.
- Accompany the information with a specific phrase that establishes the legal basis for the presentation of habeas corpus: “That I come by this means, by my own right and in my status as a person, protecting myself in the provisions of article 96 of the Constitution of the Republic, which is complemented by article 787 and following the current Law of the Criminal Process, to formulate Habeas Corpus request in favor of who will be said. It is competent to know of this request the Chamber to which I address, by virtue of the provisions of subsection of article 788 mentioned”.
And the following steps to present the document:
- Print four copies of the writing.
- Present three copies to the court and keep a copy as a record.
- Obtain an accuse of court receipt with date, name, position, signature and the number assigned to the letter in the entry record.
- Send all the information to Cubalex to keep record and prepare a file to follow up on the case.
