EFE (via 14ymedio), Madrid, 11 October 2022 — The Spanish organization Prisoners Defenders (PD) registered 36 new political arrests in Cuba in September, according to its latest report released on Monday.
The list prepared by the NGO — as of September 30 — states that in Cuba there are “a total of 1,026 political and prisoners of conscience suffering judicial convictions or provisions of limitation of liberty by prosecutors without any judicial supervision.”
It also considers that those 1,026 prisoners are related to “an activism or evident public expression of opposition to government policies and in defense of the fundamental rights of human beings.”
In its most recent count, PD reports that among the last 36 cases there are more than 20 people who were arrested during the protests linked to the prolonged power cuts in recent days, exacerbated after the passage of Hurricane Ian through the western end of the country.
The statement says that there were 442 prisoners at the beginning of October 2021, and in the last twelve months another 819 have been added: a total of 1,261.
It adds that 234 prisoners have been released from prison in this same period, 26 of them during this month, mostly after full completion of the sanction imposed.
The organization specifies that 181 protesters are included in its list who have been convicted of sedition, and that at least 171 have been sentenced to an average of 10 years and two months of imprisonment.
It also reports that among the 1,026 there are 34 minors, 24 serving sentences and ten being prosecuted.
According to their classification, there are currently 766 prisoners of conscience deprived of liberty, 231 with limited freedom and 29 cases of other political prisoners in Cuban prisons.
The report also details that 739 prisoners of conscience have been sentenced with sentences of up to 30 years, 17 have sentences of 30 years in prison or life imprisonment, and at least 117 women (including transgender women) still remain with political and conscience orders and convictions.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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