Cuba: Up to 20 years in prison for July 11 protesters

A group of cubans who participated in the demonstrations on July 11, 2021, were sentenced to up to 20 years for sedition, the Justice 11J group, which monitors the trials, reported Tuesday.

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“In the last few hours we have been able to access the sentences of 20 protesters accused of the crime of sedition in the province of Holguín (east), including five minors,” wrote the 11J on its Facebook page.

• Cuba will try 33 opposition demonstrators on July 11 for “sedition”; there are six minors
• The Cuban prosecutor’s office confirmed that there are more than 700 prosecuted for the July protests
• 45 people, including two minors, are tried in Cuba for July protests

The group published the names and ages of the convicted protesters, including a 50-year-old man, against whom the prosecution had asked for 30 years, and finally sentenced to 20, and another 30-year-old, also sentenced to 20.

Five of those convicted are between 16 and 17 years old, and received sentences of up to five years in prison.

In Cuba, the age of majority is acquired at 18, but criminal responsibility and the obligation of military service apply from the age of 16.

They stressed that the reductions in the initial prosecutorial requests for convictions are “gestures of the State in the face of strong national and international pressure”, but that “Justice 11J insists on its request for freedom for those already convicted or awaiting trial.”

“The immediate freedom of all the July protesters is the only truly fair solution to the State’s response to a protest that only ceased to be peaceful after the action of the military and paramilitary groups by order of President Miguel Díaz-Canel,” he added.

Shouting “Freedom” and “We are hungry”, thousands of Cubans demonstrated on July 11, 2021. These protests, unprecedented since the 1959 revolution, left one dead and dozens injured, and 1,377 people detained according to the NGO Cubalex .

• “They fear us and for that they punish us”: the gloomy panorama six months after the historic protests in Cuba
• Cuba dictates sentences of up to 30 years in prison to opposition demonstrators of July 11
• “We are not to blame for anything, they cannot judge us by a last name”: the heirs of Batista, the ruler of Cuba overthrown by Fidel Castro
• “My son is 21 years old and they have put him in jail for 23”: the harsh sentences in Cuba against the protesters of July 11
• The US criticizes that Cuba asks for up to 25 years in prison for July 11 protesters

Source: Elcomercio

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