A total of 381 protesters who participated in the protests on July 11 and 12, 2021, were convicted in Cuba of various crimes, the Attorney General’s Office of Havana said on Monday (13). The balance sheet includes 16 youths aged between 16 and 18 and 36 people who have received sentences of up to 25 years in prison on charges of sedition.
The protests that broke out just under a year ago, bringing together thousands of people in different cities on the island, left at least one dead, dozens injured and more than 1,300 detainees — hundreds of whom are still in prison, according to civil organization Justicia 11J. .
The acts, considered the biggest demonstrations since the 1959 revolution, were triggered by frustration after months of crisis, lack of food and restrictions to contain the spread of Covid, culminating in the popular accusation of negligence by the communist regime. In November, an intimidation movement deflated new protests that had been called.
In a statement on Monday, the Prosecutor’s Office said that, so far, “381 people have received sanctions, including 16 young people between the ages of 16 and 18, mainly for crimes of sedition, sabotage, robbery with force and violence, attack, contempt and public disorder.” The sentences are final, as they result from appeals from sentences that had been imposed after summary judgments.
The agency also specified that “297 accused were sentenced to deprivation of liberty”, of at least 5 years in prison. Of this total, 36 will be detained for 25 years for the crime of sedition.
Another 84, including 15 of the adolescents, had “the deprivation of liberty commuted by alternative sentences that do not imply […] entry into prison” and will be able to serve the sentence with “correctional work with and without internment”.
In Cuba, the age of majority is 18, but criminal and military responsibility applies from the age of 16.
The regime had reported on January 25 that 790 people, including 55 under the age of 18, had been charged in some way with involvement in the July demonstrations. Havana authorities claim that the acts attacked the constitutional order and were orchestrated from the United States.
Washington, meanwhile, has since criticized the island for sentences it considers excessive and demanding the release of all prisoners. Human rights groups and the European Union have also condemned the lack of transparency in Cuban justice in these cases. NGOs accuse the occurrence of torture, deprivation of light and food, as well as electric shocks in prisons.
As soon as the convictions began to be released, a group of mothers began to work in collecting signatures for the amnesty petition and in contacting courts and international organizations. as showed the Sheet in April, the trials have been carried out in a trickle, with feathers that frighten Cubans.
The movement has also fragmented the opposition: there are activists who bet on an institutional solution, with an amnesty that would come through legal channels, and others who preach disobedience. Many artists, who with movements like San Isidro and Espaço Aglutinador fought for freedom of expression, left the country.
While the convictions silence the opposition, the economic situation, affected by US sanctions for decades, has deteriorated further. Due to the pandemic, Cuba’s GDP was reduced by 11% in 2020, and inflation reached 300%. Despite the reopening to tourism, it has been difficult to reach previous levels.
Dictatorship leader Miguel DÃaz-Canel says there are no political prisoners on the island and says the convictions are for crimes against state security and collaboration with foreign forces. In May, seeking to fulfill a campaign promise to improve relations with Havana, President Joe Biden announced the easing of restrictions imposed during the Donald Trump administration on remittances of money and travel to Cuba.
