DRACONIAN IN A SENTENCE TRIAL

Trump-era sanctions contributed to the food and medicine shortages people were protesting against. РІР‚СљThe fact that the government feels under and is under unprecedented threat РІР‚вЂњ not just from increased US sanctions but from the pandemic and the global economic situation РІР‚вЂњ makes it less willing to tolerate any type of dissidence.РІР‚Сњ РІР‚СљThe state is trying to send the message that there are dire consequences to rebelling against the government,РІР‚Сњ said William LeoGrande, professor of government at American University in Washington. In addition, many people stand accused of vague crimes that are inconsistent with international standards, such as РІР‚ВcontemptРІР‚в„ў which has been consistently used in Cuba to punish those who criticise the government,РІР‚Сњ she said. РІР‚СљProsecutors have pushed for disproportionately long sentences against people who were arrested in the protests. Earlier this week one man in the eastern province of HolguР“Вn was sentenced to 30 years.Р”В®rika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said detainees have faced summary proceedings without guarantees of due process or a fair trial.

Justicia 11J said more than 700 people were still being detained following JulyРІР‚в„ўs protests, with 158 of those accused of or already sentenced for sedition. Since December, more 50 people in La GР“Сinera have been sentenced for sedition, according to the civil society organisation Justicia 11J. Photograph: Ed Augustin/The GuardianР”В«ecause her son is at college, police initially told her he would get a РІР‚Сљsecond chanceРІР‚Сњ charging him with РІР‚Сљpublic disorderРІР‚Сњ and telling him he would get away with a fine.Р”В«ut in October, the charge was upgraded to sedition: in other words, inciting others to rebel against state authority. РІР‚СљThey want to make an example of him,РІР‚Сњ said CardosoРІР‚в„ўs mother, Servillia Pedroso, 35, holding back tears.Р”В®loy CardosoРІР‚в„ўs mother, Servillia Pedroso, left, and Migdalia GutiР“В©rrez, whose son, Brunelvil, has been sentenced to 15 years. Though the state has a history of issuing stiff sentences to organised political dissidents, the punishments now being meted out are unusually severe.

DRACONIAN IN A SENTENCE TRIAL

The trial is one of scores currently playing out across the island, as, six months after the demonstrations, Cuban courts have quietly started imposing draconian sentences on the protesters who РІР‚вЂњ sometimes peacefully, sometimes less so РІР‚вЂњ flooded the streets last summer. He was arrested a few days later, and at a closed trial earlier this week he was sentenced to seven years in prison. Amid the tumult, Cardoso began to throw stones at the police. Shops were smashed and looted, party supporters wielded clubs, police wrestled with youths, and one man was shot dead. The authorities had managed to quell the protests in most of the country overnight, but not in La GР“Сinera: unrest was still raging in the humble and normally calm neighbourhood, and Eloy walked out into a bloody brawl.

Draconian in a sentence