Cuban mothers of political prisoners for Amnesty to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
On April 12, 2022 the Association of Mothers and Relatives for Amnesty of Political Prisoners in Cuba (AMFA) through the Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba sent a letter signed by 37 of its members in Cuba to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Amnesty International. In it, they express their great concern for the situation of thousands of young men and women prosecuted by the Cuban regime for their participation in the protests of July 11, 2021. The association calls for their immediate release.
The call on Amnesty International to declare a list of 37 Cubans currently jailed as Prisoners of Conscience.
AMFA will send to this prestigious organization AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL the necessary data, included in ANNEX 1 of the present document, so that the above-mentioned persons may be declared PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE, and this will constitute a formal denunciation, for being persons who, without having used violence or advocated its use, are imprisoned and subjected to restrictions of their freedom because of their political beliefs.
In the letter, they speak out against the criminalization of ideas and rights in Cuba and how the Cuban regime has violated due process and its own constitution in the trials and imprisonment of 790 young people arrested and subjected to summary trials when all they were advocating for was a democratic opening in Cuba.
Our greatest concern is grounded on the thousands of young men and women detained and prosecuted for participating in last July's demonstrations in Cuba, AMFA calls on the Cuban government for their immediate release.
The letter refers to international human rights instruments such as the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Based on this international legislation, they define the meaning of due process as "The set of guarantees that protects the citizen subjected to any process that assures him throughout the process a correct and fulfilled administration of justice that assures freedom and legal security, rationality and the substantiation of judicial resolutions in accordance with the law" and remind the regime that it is systematically violated in Cuba.
AMFA recounts how the Cuban regime violates the articles of its own constitution, including ARTICLE 16 (enjoyment of human rights ); ARTICLE 40 (human dignity as a supreme value), ARTICLE 45 (individual rights), ARTICLE 46 (right to life, physical and moral integrity, liberty, justice, ARTICLE 94 (due process), ARTICLE 95 (due process), ARTICLE 96 (Habeas Corpus).
In sum, AMFA'S CONCRETE REQUEST TO THE IACHR,
1. AMFA will send to this prestigious organization IACHR the necessary data, included in ANNEX 1, of the present document, in order to constitute a formal denunciation: At this moment about the prison situation implemented by the tyrannical Castro-Canel Government, to the Cuban political prisoners that are in Cuban prisons. Also the relatives of the prisoners in Cuba feel unable to do anything for them, due to the repression that exists on the part of the Cuban government.
2. That the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic of Cuba strictly complies with the legal mandate established in Title VI, Constitutional, Structure of the State, Chapter VI, Article 156, which states: it is the State body whose fundamental mission is to exercise control over criminal investigation and the exercise of public criminal action on behalf of the State, as well as to ensure strict compliance with the Constitution, laws and other legal provisions by State bodies, entities and citizens.
"These principles, procedural and constitutional guarantees apply to ordinary and summary criminal proceedings. The latter are provided for minor or less serious cases under the jurisdiction of the municipal courts in which speed distinguishes the actions of the operators during the processing of the inquiry and trial, without detriment to the rights of those involved".
3. We ask the IACHR to recommend to the National Assembly of the
The Cuban People's Party, the need to conduct a comprehensive study of the Cuban criminal justice system, and the need to continue improving the justice system, in favor of political prisoners and the population in general. In all its areas and structures, to consolidate legal security, "due process", the protection of human rights, institutionality and social discipline, so affected in Cuba today.
4. Finally, we ask the IACHR to promote, through diplomatic mechanisms, before the Attorney General's Office of the Republic of Cuba, that independent lawyers promote before the competent Cuban courts, Habeas Corpus proceedings, for the delays and abuses in the sentences, in accordance with the requirements established by law, according to Article 96 of the Constitution.
CLICK on the image bellow to read the AMFA’S Communication to the IACHR on April 12, 2022:
Letter to Inter-american Commission on Human Rights/IACHR.
Letter to Amnesty International with a request for recognition of 37 Cuban political prisoners as Prisoners of Conscience.
