A Court Will Review the Sentence Against Four Young Cubans Issued by a Judge Arrested in the United States

In Florida, Melody González Pedraza will have to prove, after a first failed attempt, that she is eligible for political asylum

Several human rights organizations have demanded the release of the young people sentenced by judge Melody González Pedraza / Facebook

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, July 27, 2024 — The Provincial Court of Villa Clara will review on August 9 the sentence issued in Cuba by former judge Melody González Pedraza — who is now imprisoned in a detention center for migrants in Broward, Florida — against four young people accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a vehicle and other police property in 2022. González Pedraza, who has a history of collaboration with the regime from her position in the Municipal Court of Encrucijada, will face a legal process in the United States, where she arrived and applied for political asylum last May, after she was denied humanitarian parole. The former judge will have to prove, after a first failed attempt, that she is eligible for international protection.

González Pedraza sentenced Andy Gabriel González Fuentes, Eddy Daniel Rodríguez Pérez, Luis Ernesto Medina Pedraza and Adain Barreiro Pérez, whose families have never stopped protesting over the former judge’s attempt to enter American territory and have denounced her links with the regime.

González Pedraza alleged in an interview that she had acted according to instructions “from above”

In turn, González Pedraza alleged in an interview with Diario de Cuba that she had acted according to instructions “from above,” although the evidence against the young people was not conclusive. Now, their families are appealing Sentence 4/2024, signed by the former judge, a process that will take place in the Chamber of Crimes against State Security in the Provincial Court, according to Martí Noticias.

The appeal document, published by this newspaper, indicates that the hearing will be held at 9:00 am “with the reproduction of all the evidence that was carried out in the trial of first instance,” which will be submitted for review.

Captain Miguel Martínez, First Lieutenant Ricardo Domínguez, Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Luis Alfonso and a person identified as Ramón Benítez will testify as new witnesses – all members of the Police and State Security.

At the beginning of July, the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH), based in Madrid, Spain, asked for the acquittal of the young people after González Pedraza’s statements and her application for asylum in the United States. The conviction handed down by the former judge, said OCDH, is based only on the retraction of the confession by one of the accused and on testimonies provided by officials of the Ministry of the Interior.

“They gave me precise indications; I decided that the defense lawyers had presented important evidence”

“They gave me precise indications; I decided that the defense lawyers had presented important evidence, especially witnesses. But the order I received was that the evidence of the Prosecutor’s Office was sufficient and had more value. We had to keep them in pre-trial detention and punish them,” the former official said in her interview with Diario de Cuba.

OCDH presented “new reasons for acquittal and revocation of the sentences,” since “it is evident that it was not lawful and just to pronounce a criminal sentence.” The organization prepared a report, with six recommendations, addressed to the appointed lawyers of the sentencing of the Municipal Court of Encrucijada and the members of the Governing Council of the Provincial Court of Villa Clara, among other agencies.

“There was a violation of guarantees and fundamental rights to the detriment of those convicted, as well as the absence of a crime and the serious judicial misconduct of convicting them without a sufficient minimum of evidence. We believe that there are sufficient elements for imminent freedom measures to be adopted in favor of the appellants, as a definitive measure in justice,” explained the OCDH.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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