September 9, 1997
Amnesty International
Urgent Action Follow Up
5 September 1997
Further information on EXTRA 117/97 issued 28
August
1997
Prisoner of Conscience/ Legal concern
CUBA
Hector PALACIO RUIZ
Amnesty International has learned that on 4 September 1997, at a
municipal
court in Havana, Hector Palacio Ruiz was sentenced to 18 months'
imprisonment
for 'desacato', 'disrespect' (article 144 of the Penal Code).
Hector Palacio, who is president of the Partido Solidaridad
Democratico
(PSD), Democratic Solidarity Party, and a member of the national
coordinating
council of Concilio Cubano, Cuban Concilium, had been arrested on 9
January
1997, following statements he made to foreign journalists and in letters
to
foreign governments about declarations made by President Fidel Castro at
the
Sixth Ibero-American Summit in Chile in November 1996.
Amnesty International is concerned that Hector Palacio may not have
been
granted full judicial guarantees in accordance with international
standards.
According to reports, friends and journalists were not permitted to attend
the
trial and the witnesses that Hector Palacio's lawyer had requested were
reportedly not permitted to testify.
Amnesty International believes that Hector Palacio is a prisoner of
conscience, detained solely for the non-violent exercise of his right to
freedom
of expression, association and assembly.
FURTHER RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send
telegrams/telexes/faxes/express/ airmail letters: expressing concern that
Hector Palacio Ruiz has been sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment for
'disrespect' and that the trial may not have been in accordance with
international standards; - calling for his immediate and unconditional
release
on the grounds that he is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for
peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression, association and
assembly; - urging that all Cuban citizens be guaranteed their rights to
freedom
of association, assembly and expression, in accordance with the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and that the Cuban Government immediately
cease to
imprison, force into exile or otherwise punish those who attempt to
peacefully
exercise such rights.
APPEALS TO:
1) Attorney-General:
Dr Juan Escalona Reguera
Fiscal General de la Republica
Fiscalia General de la Republica
San Rafael 3
La Habana, Cuba
Dear Attorney General:
[Telegrams: Fiscal General, Havana, Cuba]
[Telexes: 307 511456 fisge]
2) Minister of Foreign Affairs:
Sr Roberto Robaina Gonzalez
Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores
Calzada No. 360
Vedado
La Habana, Cuba
Dear Minister:
[Telegrams: Ministro Relaciones Exteriores, Havana, Cuba]
[Telexes: 307 511122 / 307 511464 / 307 512950]
[Faxes: 011 53 7 335261]
3) Minister of the Interior:
General Abelardo Colome Ibarra
Ministro de Interior
Ministerio del Interior
Plaza de la Revolucion
La Habana, Cuba
Dear Minister:
[Telegrams: Ministro Interior, Havana, Cuba]
COPIES TO:
National Union of Jurists:
Union Nacional de Juristas
Apartado 4161
La Habana 4, Cuba
Editor of Granma (daily newspaper)
Sr Jacinto Granda de Laserna
Granma
Apdo 6260
La Habana, Cuba
Cuba has no embassy in the US at present.
to contact its interest in the US, write
Cuban Interests Section
Mr. Fernando Remirez de Estenoz
2630 - 16th St. NW
Washington, DC 20009
Please send appeals immediately. Check with the Colorado office
between
9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Mountain Time, weekdays only, if sending appeals
after
September 17, 1997.
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