Hector Palacios will be helpless before a Cuban court on September 4

On September 4th, a municipal court in Cuba will decide if prisoner of conscience Hector Palacios Ruiz will be sentenced to a prison term of three years, his crime "Disrespect" to President Fidel Castro, according to Cuban criminal code number l42.

Various activists and relatives in Cuba have informed us that, the court will begin proceedings without accepting the video which originated the accusation and hearing the testimony of witnesses presented by his attorney, and Dr. Juan Escandel Ramirez.

Hector Palacios Ruiz, has been detained on various occasions by the Cuban political police, but this time he was arrested on January 9, 1997 because he asserted to the foreign press that Fidel Castro had failed to fulfill his signed promise to promote democracy and respect of human rights as subscribed in the Declaration of the VI lberoamerican Summit in Viña del Mar, Chile. Palacios is the President of Partido Solidaridad Democratica (PSD) and a member of the National Coordinating Council of Concilio Cubano, Amnesty International has declared him a prisoner of conscience since January 29, 1997. )