From the Combinado del Este, Luis Robles Confirms That He is Still Imprisoned in Cuba

“The news had been published on the networks that I had taken refuge in Colombia, and that is a lie, and I want people to know that I am still in prison,” says Luis Robles. (Capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 3 December 2021 — Luis Robles Elizastigui has again denounced that he is a victim of psychological and physical torture in prison. Activist Ángel Moya issued a call on Thursday for the “young man with the banner,” in which he asserts that Robles is still in the Combinado del Este, the maximum security prison in Havana.

Specifically, in “building three, in the north room, company 3406,” and he expresses with indignation: “The news had been published on the networks that I had taken refuge in Colombia, and that is a lie, and I want people to know that I am still in prison and I want the opposition to know it.”

“I am close to completing one year and I have not yet been tried, they have not told me anything, I do not know what they plan to do with me,” says the young man, who has been detained since 4 December 2020, when he peacefully demonstrated on the San Rafael boulevard in the capital with a poster calling for an end to the repression and the release of rapper Denis Solís .

He explains that he had a difficult few months in prison because he “had the police on top of him” all the time. “I received psychological torture from them, they chained me for no reason, for pleasure, just for speaking with the opposition they gave me a punishment cell, to prevent me from communicating with them.”

The punishment he refers to is “a system of handcuffs they call beads, and that tie hands, feet and waist, then they would leave me in a room for hours and if I sat down they would go and stand me up again.” In addition, “they have stripped me naked in front of other prisoners and that is very degrading.”

The complaints made by him previously, he says, have caused him to be sent to the punishment cell about five times. “The last two times I was there it was precisely for making complaints against the violation of human rights here inside the prison and the last time they had me without food for more than three days and they did not allow my sack to pass with my food.”

Similarly, he complains that inside the prison “there are many snitches” and because of them he has had “problems” with the police. You must take care of everything you speak and with whom you speak because there are common prisoners who, in exchange for some benefit, collude with the jailers and “tell them everything one talks or does and with whom.”

Before this call to Ángel Moya, Robles’ communication with the outside world was through his brother, Landy Fernández Elizastigui, but for a few months, he has been reluctant to speak to the independent press, because every time he does, they punish his brother.

However, Fernández tells this newspaper that this Wednesday he was able to visit Robles and that he did so accompanied by his son, who is just two years old. “He was very happy to see us and hug his child,” he says.

Last October, the Provincial Court of Havana for the fourth time denied Robles a change in the precautionary measure that keeps him in prison without trial. The oral hearing was originally set for July 16, but was suspended as a result of the July 11 protests and a new date has not yet been announced.

That same month, the United Nations issued an opinion in which it considers the case of Robles — as well as that of Solís, released in July and today in asylum in Serbia — as arbitrary detention and asks the Cuban government not only for his immediate release but also for compensation. “and other types of reparation, in accordance with international law” to the activists.

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