US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States will sanction four Cuban judicial officials for their role in the detention of a political dissident in 2020.
Three judges and one prosecutor, Rubio said, would be banned from entering the United States over what Washington called "serious human rights violations" in the case of Cuban dissident Luis Robles. He was arrested during a protest in the capital Havana in December 2020 while holding a banner reading "Freedom" and "No to repression."
Accused of disobedience and hostile propaganda
He was accused of "disobedience" and "hostile propaganda," according to a statement from his family and human rights groups.
Rubio called Robles' detention "arbitrary" in a statement released yesterday. Cuban judges Gladys Maria Padron Canals, Maria Elena Fornari Conde and Juan Sosa Orama, and prosecutor Janaisa Matos Legra, were overseeing the case and will be sanctioned, Rubio said, according to Hina.
"Judges and prosecutors who are agents of the regime, not an independent judiciary, play a key role in these arbitrary detentions and prosecutions," Rubio said, adding that "they are responsible for fraudulent legal processes that unfairly target, convict, and punish individuals for their peaceful expression and activism."
"The US is inciting or funding protests"
Robles was released from prison in January, among the first of more than 500 prisoners freed by Cuba this year, following a deal brokered by the Vatican and the administration of former US President Joe Biden.
Although Cuba's 2019 constitution grants citizens the right to protest, a law that would more precisely define that right has been stalled in the legislature for years, leaving protesters in legal limbo. The Cuban government, which did not immediately respond to Rubio's announcement, claims that the United States is instigating or funding the protests in an effort to cause unrest on the island.
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