The activist was released under surveillance warnings and with the threat of opening a file against him for “counterrevolutionary.”
Miami, United States. – The Cubalex Legal Information Center denounced this weekend That the political expriceseer Michael Hernández Molina was summoned by the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) of Pinar del Río and, once in the unit, transferred without informing his family to the Criminal Instruction Center of the crimes against the security of the State – known as “the technician” -, where he was subjected to low temperatures and threatened by his publications on social networks.
According to the complaint of Cubalex, the release occurred under surveillance warnings and with the threat of opening a file against him for “counterrevolutionary.”
According to the complaint, Hernández Molina, who resides in the town of Briones Montoto, was called to appear in a PNR unit in the provincial capital, which implied “an unnecessary expense in the midst of the transport crisis.” Upon arrival, he was received by an officer identified as “Captain Dariel”, who kept him waiting until the arrival of the “Major Otoniel.”
Then, the agents led him to a vehicle and transferred him to “The technician”, at kilometer 4½ of the road to San Juan and Martínez, without warning his mother, who had accompanied him. The woman remained about four hours in the unit without knowing the whereabouts of her son.
Cubalex says that, in the Instruction Center, the “Major Otoniel” left Hernández Molina in an interrogation room “with two air conditioners on”, exposing it at low temperatures for a long period. For the organization, “this type of treatment constitutes a form of physical and psychological torture, systematically used by the Cuban authorities.”
After the interrogation, Hernández Molina was released under vigilance threats and with the order not to publish on social networks. The expreasing had to return walking to the city of Pinar del Río, where his mother still expected him without information, according to the report.
The interrogation focused on a publication on social networks and, according to Cubalex, included humiliating provocations and threats: they warned him that he could go to prison for 20 years if he remained in Cuba and that, if they saw him filming or taking photos, they would destroy the phone.
In its legal analysis, Cubalexe argues that threats by publications violate the freedom of expression protected by article 19 of the International Pact of Civil and Political Rights. He adds that the treatment received fits the prohibition of torture, typified in article 368 of the Criminal Code Cuban, and that the refusal to inform the mother about the transfer “constitutes a form of forced disappearance of short duration”, a practice prohibited by the International Convention for the Protection of all people against forced disappearances.
The organization also recalls that article 326 of the Criminal Procedure Law It allows audio or video recordings made by individuals as long as no deceit, coercion or violence does not mediate and emphasizes: “No public official can prevent citizens from dating state actions,” says Cubalex.
The NGO concludes that “the case of Michael Hernández Molina shows how the Cuban State continues to use repression, intimidation and psychological torture against people who have exercised their right to freedom of expression and have been previously imprisoned for political reasons.”
