14ymedio, Havana, March 10, 2022–Writer María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez and her sister Angélica, who protested on July 11th (11J) in San José de las Lajas (Mayabeque), have been sentenced to 7 and 3 years in prison, respectively, according to Michel Valladares Cala, the first woman’s husband and director of the Republican Party of Cuba in Pinar del Río.
In a Facebook post, Valladares accused Gervasio Escalona Escalona, who he described as a “PNR (National Revolutionary Police) henchman,” of fabricating the assault charge, of which his wife was convicted. According to his testimony, officials who presided over the trial confirmed that the writer was not in the presumed location of the events on the night of the 11th. The agent affirmed that Garrido Rodríguez, who was accused of assault, contempt, resistance, public disorder, and organizing to commit a crime, hit him in the back.
Forty-one-year-old María Cristina and 39-year-old Angélica Garrido Rodríguez were tried at the end of January and the prosecutor sought 15 and 10 years for them, respectively.
At the time, Valladares Cala described the proceedings as a “circus,” in which he says the prosecutors exposed contradictions in the testimony offered by the police officers. “They have not said a single truth, pure lies, pure contradictions among them,” stated Valladares who said, however, that the attorneys, “are doing a good job.”
In the last few hours, they also handed sentences to other protesters in Guanajay, Artemisa, of which only that of Ángel Mesa is known; he was sentenced to 12 years in jail for assault.
Translated by: Silvia Suárez
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