CUBA: Alarming Statistics of Human Rights Violations in First Half of 2009

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CUBA: Alarming Statistics of Human Rights Violations in First Half of 2009
By Cuban Democratic Directorate

Activists in Cuba document over 500 political arrests, at least 26 trials and prison sentences of peaceful opposition activists and a high prison mortality rate

Miami. June 15, 2009. Assembly of the Resistance. Two Cuba-based human rights watchdogs, the Council of Human Rights Rapporteurs of Cuba and the Municipal Democratic Circles of Cuba made public today alarming statistics on human rights violations on the Island from January to June of this year in a twice-yearly report. Their report was presented by Pedro Penaranda, the organizations’ representative outside of Cuba.

According to their report, at least 26 peaceful dissidents were tried by Cuban courts and imprisoned so far this year, a fact that confirms that political persecution remains the rule in totalitarian Cuba. More than 500 arrests of peaceful human rights defenders, opposition activists, independent journalists and their families took place. Details including the names and addresses of people affected as well as the sources of the information were included along with the report.

The Castro regime’s prisons continue to be the sites of terrible violations of the rights of prisoners, particularly the rights of political prisoners, but also the rights of common prisoners.

“The alarming deaths of young people in the prisons continue. In only 11 prisons, 21 common prisoners died due to negligence, the rigor of the prison regime, beatings, and mistreatment. Currently, there are about 250 prisons in Cuba,” states the document.

The conference also featured the participation of members of the Assembly of the Resistance, a coalition of over 50 pro-democracy organizations in and out of Cuba that support the Non-Cooperation with the Dictatorship Campaign.

The report was drafted in Cuba and issued from there by the Council of Human Rights Rapporteurs of Cuba and the Municipal Democratic Circles of Cuba. The activists can be reached by email at relatorescubanos@gmail.com and juanitocrdhc@yahoo.es or by telephone at +53 7 649 96 63 or at +53 05 273 09 68.

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