Havana Cuba. – After Landy Fernández, brother of political prisoner Luis Robles Elizástigui, reported to the National Directorate of Jails and Prisons that the young political prisoner was stripped naked and photographed, the regime responded to his claims by denying and justifying the facts.
According to Fernández, the officers in charge of the investigation told him that the beating declared by Robles was a “lie” and that the photos they took of him were intended to discredit what he had said.
“They told me that they undressed him looking for the blows they gave him, and when they undressed him they realized that he did not have any and that is why they photographed him, to have evidence that what he had said was a lie,” explained his brother, who also He referred to the impotence with which he left the Prison Department.
On April 29, Robles confirmed a CubaNet who had been beaten and placed in isolation in the Combinado del Este maximum security prison, where he is serving a five-year sentence. The incident had occurred three days earlier.
According to what he said, the beating was inflicted on him by a guard nicknamed “El Maya”, mainly in the area above the scalp, making it more difficult for visible marks to remain.
In addition, the photographic section took place after being stripped of all his clothes and under the supervision of the head of Internal Order of the prison, the head of Unit and other officials.
Regarding the investigation carried out by the regime as a result of Landy Fernández’s complaint, Robles told his brother that the public assistance officer who was supposed to investigate the events, far from doing his job, questioned the young man’s version of events. computerized.
“This officer told him: ‘Neither what you say nor what you do is going to change what we do. Neither you nor anyone else is going to take away our power.’ He also told him that he is the enemy and that is why he is treated like this, ”Fernández explained.
The “tactics” of the regime in prison
Both political and common prisoners have reported being victims of beatings inside the prison.
Former political prisoner Esteban Rodríguez, who was also held in the Combinado del Este along with Luis Robles, explained to CubaNet that “the guards normally hit from the neck down and until the marks go away they don’t take the prisoners out of the cell.”
Likewise, Normando Hernández, director of the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press, indicated that it is not only the place on the body where the blows are delivered that matters, but also “the way in which they beat him.”
“I have been told that they wrap the fist in a wet towel and in this way they deliver forceful blows that do not leave marks; also that with the inside of the fist if you give a sharp blow you cause a lot of pain and leave no traces”.
Regarding the denunciations of these events before the organs of the Cuban regime prepared for it, the former political prisoner of the Black Spring believes that it is the only way to put a stop to the sadism of the jailers.
“The problem is that the Cuban regime wants us to believe, at all times, that our complaints are for pleasure, but it is not like that,” he concluded.
Last March, the Prisoners Defenders organization presented a report to the United Nations that identified 15 systematic patterns of torture, mistreatment, and cruel or degrading punishment of political prisoners in Cuba, including constant humiliation and mistreatment, forced labor, solitary confinement and physical assaults.
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