The National Assembly of Cuba approved on Thursday (28) a series of laws that expand some civil rights, while the communist government of the island faces internal and external pressure due to the repression of protests carried out in July this year.
The acts, the biggest since the revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959, were caused by the shortage of food and medicine in the country. The Cubans also accused problems in the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and called for more freedom of expression.
In one of the harshest punishments for protesters, an activist was sentenced to ten years in prison for contempt, attack, public disorder and instigation to commit a crime.
Cuban lawmakers and judges say the new laws increase the protection of those accused of crimes and should improve transparency. The new measures provide, for example, that defendants are notified of potential charges and that detainees are guaranteed the right to a lawyer within 24 hours. Citizens will also be able to access their files and court documents.
These changes stem from the 2019 Constitution, which called for reforms to modernize the island’s judicial and penal codes. The new measures, however, address legal loopholes identified by activists, who claim that authorities abused due process after the mid-year protests.
For Cuban lawyer and legal analyst Eloy Viera, who lives in Canada, the rules are a major step forward in guaranteeing a citizen’s right to defend himself in court. “These laws offer more guarantees and come much closer to international standards than the regulations in effect today.”
How these measures will be applied, however, will determine whether Cubans will see significant changes in their rights, says William LeoGrande, a professor at American University in Washington. “The laws still give authorities considerable discretion and only time will tell how they will be employed, especially in political cases.”
Dissidents and human rights organizations say more than 1,000 protesters were arrested after the July protests. Some of the detainees even had no charges, were held incommunicado and had no legal representation, civil rights groups say. More than 560 people remain in prison. Last week, a report by the NGO Human Rights Watch pointed out that more than 130 Cubans were victims of abuses committed by agents of the dictatorship during the demonstrations.
The Cuban dictatorship, in turn, argues that those arrested in July were guilty of crimes that include public disorder, resisting arrest and vandalism. It also ruled that the marches scheduled for November 15 are illegal, claiming they were created and promoted by the US.
The laws passed on Thursday take effect in 2022, and Viera says they will hardly have retroactive effect. “I don’t believe this new legislation will have a definitive influence on the already initiated, politically motivated lawsuits against the July 11 protesters.”
Some jurists also assess that any advances in the penal code should be overshadowed by the dictatorship’s one-party system. “Supreme Court judges can be easily fired. No court can declare a National Assembly law unconstitutional,” explains retired Cuban-American professor Jorge Dominguez. “There is no independent body to protect constitutional rights.”
The reforms, however, also provide for a ban on illegal detention and eliminate a long-criticized law that allowed authorities to arrest a citizen deemed potentially dangerous, a move often used against dissidents.
For independent journalist Yoani Sánchez, the changes are not enough. “Repressive laws are still in force and are often arbitrarily applied against opponents, activists and independent journalists, such as confinement at home and a ban on leaving the country.”
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