The United Nations accused the Cuban dictatorship of committing serious due process violations against political prisoners in 11J

the United nations The United Nations accused the Cuban regime of committing this crime Serious violations of due process Against political detainees 11cThe massive protests of July 11, 2021 were also known on the island.

Six states They indicated, through a letter they sent to the dictatorship of Miguel Díaz Canel, that Seven due process violations Which nullifies all criminal proceedings More than 1,500 political prisoners have been on the island in the past three yearsIn addition to qualifyingarbitrary“Based on”Enforced disappearanceTheir detention operations.

1. Deprivation of liberty without judicial protection: It is carried out by investigating police officers who are called “Trainers“,”A figure outside the investigating judge“, as indicated in the mandate letter, and thereafter by local prosecutors for an indefinite period, as indicated,”Six months without the approval of the Attorney General“.
2. Lack of independent lawyersBecause all lawyers are required by law to rely on the Ministry of Justice. The states were clear: “The lack of an independent legal profession in Cuba has been condemned on numerous occasions by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the UN Committee against Torture.” In both cases, it was an NGO Defenders of prisoners The complainant, based on the 2019 opinion “La Abogacía en Cuba”, issued by prisoner advocates, which was presented in the complaints adopted in the Committee against Torture in 2022, and much earlier in the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Cases 63/2019 and 63 /2021.
3. Dependence of prosecutors and judges on political power: Cuban law leaves no room for doubt, as the NGO showed in the complaint, and therefore the mandates adopted it and referred to it in their letter.
4. State experts and witnesses are the only source of accusationAs for the first, by law, it is not permissible to participate as an expert in any trial against the state without a request from the “competent authority.” The expert opinion is always on the side of the Cuban regime, but one-sided. Regarding witnesses, Prisoner Advocates has reviewed hundreds of verdicts. In all of these cases, the witnesses for the accusation were all members of the party or State Security, and they had the same case. Neither Cuban law nor the practices of judges, in criminal cases charged by the state, provide options for calling to testify and evaluating the witnesses of the accused, who are detained even before they arrive at the court’s door.
5. Criminalizing the exercise of basic rightsThe United Nations has been explicit in describing the demonstrations in Cuba as “securityTherefore, all crimes that have been fabricated on numerous occasions by the United Nations, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and various international NGOs, such as prisoner advocates, are also excluded.
6. Insufficient crimes, can be manipulated due to their lack of specificity: Human rights mandates were shocked by the fact that “the majority of people detained were charged with the crime of disturbing public order and there were no private witnesses, private accusers, or private victims who were not officials or members of the government.” If it was a “public” disturbance, there must be many people affected. Among the “audience”.
7. Military courts are used against civilians For which more than 100 demonstrators were imprisoned, and urgent procedures that violate all equivalence of defenses in criminal proceedings, even in their mere legal definition, where there is not even a provision for the ruling, deliberations and conclusions, as they are merely verbal, and all this without the obligatory presence by law of a lawyer or public prosecutor. . The judge acts on the police report and request, and the process ends with a conviction within hours.

The non-governmental organization noted that the letter was accusatory To Shibl 2/2024 The UN signatory mandates are prepared as follows:Direct and only response“For a complaint Defenders of prisoners regarding violations of due process in Cuba, which the NGO handed over to them in July 2023, based on Cuban law, which included an opinion on the impossibility of registering any independent association in Cuba under the law.

The six states stipulated that:The information received is sufficiently reliable to indicate that there is a matter worthy of immediate attentionThe organization added, “The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention can also refer a case through its regular procedures.”

Javier LarrondoThe head of the Prisoners’ Defenders Organization said in an audio recording sent to: information for him “My deep gratitude to the Six States“And highlight”The NGO’s commitment to continue working To eliminate the procedural framework for the violation of the rights of all those prosecuted, convicted, political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Cuba.

“Warning the Cuban regime that the United Nations will issue further successive public condemnations on the basis of this action towards political prisoners in Cuba and the complete lack of due process, It nurtures hope for the release of all political prisoners in CubaHe pointed out.

Finally, although he was given 60 days to present his defence, the Cuban regime did not respond within the specified period.