Two of the assassins of professor Santiago Morgadowhose body was found in a well in July of last year, in Sancti Spíritus, have been sentenced to life imprisonment, confirmed the activist Nestor Estevez with source in the relatives of the victim and witnesses of the trial.
A third person involved in the crime received a sentence of 30 years in prison, and two others received, respectively, two and one year in prison. The latter are involved in the purchase and sale of the Suzuki motorcycle that Morgado was carrying and that was, according to the investigation, the motive for the homicide. The vehicle was transferred to Camagüey, where they sold it desperately for 200,000 pesos.
Estévez told this newspaper that on Wednesday, when the sentence was handed down, “the city was completely militarized” and many of Morgado’s relatives were “surrounded” by State Security. “Maybe they thought they were going to appear in court to take a photo or a video,” ventures the activist from Sancti Spiritus, a resident of the United States, who manages a page with independent information on Sancti Spíritus. In addition, he says that the relatives have not contacted him again, despite his attempts, so he suspects that they may be threatened by the agents.
The official press, for the moment, has not reported the news. At the end of 2022, Escambray published that one of the five detainees was released on bail (presumably the one with the lowest sentence this week).
Shortly after Morgado’s body was found, the provincial newspaper revealed in a report that two of those involved had been the material authors of his violent death and that one of them knew him well.
Shortly after Morgado’s body was found, the provincial daily revealed in a report that two of those involved had been the material authors of his violent death and that one of them knew him well. The first of the alleged assassins led Morgado to El Capitolio, a town in the Popular Council of Banao, where, hidden in the undergrowth, his partner was waiting.
The attackers used a stick and a stone, as well as two pieces of agricultural machinery, to plunge the professor’s body into a well up to three meters deep.
As for the rest of those involved, one of them drove Morgado’s motorcycle to Camagüey, where the fourth individual tried to sell it for an initial price of 800,000, which he soon had to give up. Finally, the fifth detainee was the intermediary of the sale.
Of the five subjects, aged between 28 and 45, three are residents of Banao, one in the same town, another in El Pinto, and the third in El Capitolio. The other two lived in Vertientes, from which it follows that the crimes occurred in places they knew well.
Morgado’s acquaintances were the ones who placed the most emphasis on the search for the body, since the Police, as usual in these cases, late in joining the investigation of the event.
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