One hundred and twenty-seven prisoners were released in Cuba, including the dissident José Daniel Ferrer, as part of the agreement negotiated with the Catholic Church after the island’s removal from the American blacklist of countries supporting terrorism .
“Between Wednesday and Thursday, 127 early releases were granted, including 121 as conditional release and six as extra-criminal licenses,” said Thursday evening the vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court, Maricela Sosa, on television State.
The latter explained that the “extra-penal license” was an early release granted by the courts mainly for health reasons.
This is the first official count released by authorities since Tuesday’s announcement of a deal negotiated with the help of the Catholic Church for the release of 553 prisoners, after President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal of the island on the American blacklist which includes Iran, North Korea and Syria.
Among the 127 prisoners released are historic opponent José Daniel Ferrer, 54, released Thursday morning from Mar Verde prison, in Santiago de Cuba (east).
“We have just arrived with him. Thank God he is at home,” Nelva Ortega, the wife of the dissident who had been in detention for more than three years, told AFP by telephone.
Shortly after, José Daniel Ferrer called on Cubans not to be “afraid to confront” the communist government which is “more and more afraid” and is “more and more weak”, during his first statements made on the radio. anti-Castroist Marti Noticias, based in Miami.
José Daniel Ferrer was declared a “prisoner of conscience” by the human rights organization Amnesty International in August 2021.
He was imprisoned on July 11, 2021, when he tried to join the anti-government protests that shook the country, the largest since the advent of the Castro revolution in 1959.
A month later, a court revoked his parole and sent him back behind bars to finish serving a four-and-a-half year prison sentence he was sentenced to in 2020, accused of hitting a man, which he denies.
-– “New beginning” –
A long-time dissident, José Ferrer was one of 75 political prisoners arrested in 2003 during the “Black Spring”, a wave of repression against dissent led by Fidel Castro.
He was then sentenced to 25 years in prison and released eight years later, after a negotiation between the government and the Catholic Church. He had refused to leave the island in exchange for his release.
After the release of a first group of prisoners on Wednesday, the vast majority of them demonstrators imprisoned for having participated in the protests of July 11 and 12, 2021, the release of prisoners continued on Thursday.
Four detainees, all convicted for their participation in the demonstrations of July 11 and 12, 2021, left a prison located in San Miguel del Padron, on the outskirts of Havana, at the start of the morning, AFP journalists noted. .
“Thank you for giving me this opportunity, once again, in life. It’s a new beginning,” declared, moved, the young Marlon Brando Diaz, sentenced to 18 years in prison for his participation in the demonstrations, then that his family was waiting for him in front of the penitentiary center.
Also awaited by their families, three other prisoners, held in the same prison, were released, noted AFP.
According to official figures, some 500 people were sentenced to up to 25 years in prison for their participation in the July 2021 protests. Some have been released in recent months after serving their sentences.
NGOs and the United States Embassy in Cuba count a total of a thousand “political prisoners” on the island. Havana, for its part, denies the existence of political prisoners and accuses opponents of being “mercenaries” in the pay of Washington.
