HAVANA, Cuba.- From the Combinado del Este prison, located at kilometer 13 ½ of the Monumental road, in the Guanabacoa municipality of the island’s capital, prisoner Yuri Almenares González told CubaNet that the authorities of the National Directorate of Jails and Prisons informed him of the date of the trial against him.
Almenares González began a hunger strike on June 16 last to demand his release or, failing that, a fair trial, since he has been imprisoned without trial since May 17, 2020 as punishment for broadcasting several direct broadcasts criticizing the Ministry of the Interior, as well as the designated president Miguel Díaz-Canel and the Havana regime.
According to what he said by telephone, on July 6, after making him stay in the sun for four hours awaiting transfer, he was admitted to the National Hospital, Boyeros municipality. He was hospitalized in that facility until July 15, when they took him back to the Combinado del Este. Almenares González maintained the strike until july 13.
The political prisoner reveals that during his admission to the National Hospital he received a visit from an officer who identified himself as Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Quintana, second national head of Re-education of Jails and Prisons, who informed him that his trial had been scheduled for Wednesday. July 20, though he didn’t let her know where it would be. The officer reiterated that he is accused of “continuous enemy propaganda,” and verbally informed him that the prosecutor’s request against him was from one to seven years in prison.
At the time of his phone call, Yuri Almenares González was held captive in the storage room of building 3. He adds that when he returned to the Combinado del Este they took him to the prison hospital, where the doctor on duty, upon opening his medical records, told him that in the It was written in the file that he suffers from AIDS, something that the prisoner described as psychological torture, since he assures that it is false and emphasizes that precisely he did not allow himself to be injected or given serums for fear of being inoculated with HIV.
The young man details that during the hunger strike he lost 16 kilograms of weight, and that he is vomiting blood and has had bloody diarrhea. He also recalled that this July 17 marked two years and two months of being imprisoned.
Receive information from CubaNet on your cell phone through WhatsApp. Send us a message with the word “CUBA” on the phone +1 (786) 316-2072, You can also subscribe to our electronic newsletter by giving click here.
