Javier González Fernández suffers from neurological disorders that cannot be treated in prison
14ymedio, Havana, June 21, 2024 — The Provincial Court of Artemisa denied, for the second time on June 18 the extra-penal permit to political prisoner Fernández leave from prison Javier González to treat his ailments. In addition to severe neurological conditions, he suffers from depressive disorder, generalized anxiety and refractory chronic insomnia, Cubalex reported this Friday.
The opponent, sentenced in January 2022 to four years in prison for the crimes of public disorder, contempt, assault and affront to national symbols after participating in the protests of 11 July 2021 (’11J’), in the city of Artemisa, also has a disorder in the middle ear and a skull fracture caused by a machete attack he suffered in his youth. Over time, the injury led to permanent insomnia, so he barely sleeps, his father, Jorge González Soto, explained to Martí Noticias.
Gonzalez, age 37, suffers from a health condition that requires strict treatment Cuban prisons’ health services cannot guarantee. An Artemisa medical-penal commission has certified on two occasions that the political prisoner does not have adequate conditions in his current penitentiary regime, but the Court has ignored the recommendations. It took eight months to respond to the request for out-of-prison leave although the established period is two months.
He also has a disorder in his middle ear and a skull fracture caused by a machete attack he suffered in his youth
In 2023, the prison authorities sent González to the medical post to receive treatment for his insomnia, a follow-up by neurology and psychiatry, and an adequate diet and the necessary medications. These are conditions almost impossible to meet on the Island.
However, three days ago, the Artemisa Court again denied him out-of-prison leave, arguing that his health deterioration is due to the lack of medicines and not to the conditions of the prison. In addition, it considered he could recover in his cell while serving his sentence since his pathologies do not justify the granting of a leave, they alleged.
Cubalex reported that Gonzalez has not been seen by a neurologist for more than a year, that a psychiatrist has not seen him for over six months and that a psychologist has never seen him. They have also denied him a proper diet, so he has lost 14 kilograms (31 pounds).
Cubalex denounced Gonzalez has not been seen by a neurologist for more than a year
They also do not give him the medicines he needs regularly, such as amitriptyline, clonazepam, and carbamazepine. Even though he has been prescribed zolpidem for life, it has never been administered in prison.
Finally, after the struggle that the family of the man from Artemisa – one of the 1,580 protesters arrested for having participated in 11J – has waged so that he can have acceptable conditions, less than a month ago the judicial authorities granted González Fernández a transfer to a less severe regime from the prison of Guanajay to a correctional facility with internment near Taco Taco prison, in Pinar del Río.
Translated by LAR
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