MIAMI, United States. — The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) blamed the Cuban regime for the death of the Cuban opposition leader Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and the activist Harold Cepero, who died in unknown circumstances on July 22, 2012.
The conclusion of this continental body, collected in the Admissibility and Merits Report No. 83/23 of Case 14,196establishes that “the Cuban State violated the rights to life, honor and freedom of expression of both persons.”
The IACHR document identified “serious and sufficient evidence to conclude that state agents participated in the deaths of Payá and Cepero. In particular, it took into account the testimony of Ángel Carromero, which indicates that the car in which they were traveling had been hit by an official car, which was corroborated by an eyewitness. The State did not present arguments or denied these arguments. Consequently, the IACHR established that the Cuban State violated the rights to life, honor and freedom of expression of both persons”.
The IACHR specifies that “what happened to the victims was framed in the context of state persecution and repression against political dissidents and defenders in Cuba, with the aim of hindering or paralyzing the work of defending and promoting human rights.”
The mechanism also reminds that the relatives of Oswaldo Payá “They never had access to the autopsy reports, nor to the content of the procedures carried out.”
“In the process against Ángel Carromero for his alleged responsibility in the accident, he was not allowed to participate, request evidence, or appeal the sentence. The Commission concluded that the investigation failed to comply with the State’s obligations of due diligence, exhaustion of logical lines of investigation, publicity of the process, and access to information.”
In its Report, the Commission also established that the Cuban State “violated the right to residence and transit of Oswaldo Payá and his family and in his capacity as defender he was prevented from moving freely around the country on multiple occasions.” Similarly, he maintained that his family “was denied displacement so that Payá’s lifeless body could be removed, and she had to leave the country later due to harassment and threats by the State.”
