Opponents Tried for Common Crimes

Opponents Tried for Common Crimes / Cubanet, Augusto Cesar San Martin
Posted on July 15, 2015

The preference of trying political opponents for common crimes is not
new. Thus is prevented the sullying of the regime's image while giving
cover to those who assert that in Cuba there are no political prisoners.

Cubanet.org, Augusto Cesar San Martin, Havana, 10 July 2015 – The
preference of trying the Cuban government's political opponents for
common crimes is not new.

Attorney Julio Alfredo Ferrer Tamayo, head of the Cuban Law Association
(AJC) is in jail in Valle Grande awaiting a new trial and suspended from
practice for four years. The lawyer faces a new criminal charge just
when his six-month sentence for contempt was ending.

Such charge was imposed on Ferrer during his defense of his wife
Marienys Pavo Anate. He demanded a mistrial on her behalf because of
breaches of duty by public officials.

In his lawsuit against the judges, delivered in the Civil and
Administrative Courtroom of the same Court, the lawyer from the AJC
charged the process against his wife with being a "colossal fraud, with
a worthless, corrupt and illegal vote," as recorded in the judgment.

As a result of such incident, the farce against him ended up revealing
itself when the judge from the Criminal Division of the Plaza of the
Revolution Court considered "severe" the prosecutor's request for seven
months in jail for Contempt and lowered it to six months.

Lawyer Idilio Hernandez Herrera, legal representative for Ferrer, told
Cubanet that the malice is proven by the first sanction, replacing the
fine with jail as corrective discipline.

"To refer to my client they used words like corruption, documented
falsities highly repudiated by society…irreverent and unethical lawyer.
Which is to say the judges can use inappropriate language and prejudge
the verdict," said the defense lawyer.

"They are ordinary prisoners, not political"

The real 'crime' of the AJC lawyer is having used the administrative and
procedural resources of Cuban law in order to demand the right of
association.

The process summoned before the Provincial and Supreme Courts Maria
Esther Reus, head of the Ministry of Justice (MINJUS), who delegated to
the director of MINJUS Associations to declare in a trial why the AJC is
not legally approved.

The next criminal process that Julio Alfredo Ferrer faces aims to
eliminate any political or anti-governmental position that his conduct
may describe.

He is accused of Falsification of Public Documents during the purchase
of his home more than 10 years ago. Even when the notary who conducted
the process testified in the oral trial to Ferrer's innocence, the
prosecutor petitioned for three years' incarceration.

His representative Hernandez Herrera is convinced that the new
accusation is a plan that intends to search at all costs for a civil
violation so that he will be punished for ordinary crimes [i.e. not
political ones].

"After they punish him for an ordinary crime, his defense becomes more
difficult in international organizations for Human Rights, the
Latin-American Court of Justice and the European Commission that have to
do with lawyers," explains Hernandez.

"This has been a political operative game by State Security with other
factors very well organized in order to neutralize any kind of campaign
for the freedom of my client," he adds.

What is certain is that the government will keep the lawyer Julio
Alfredo Ferrer Tamayo in jail without sullying the regime's image and
apparently will give cover to those who assert that in Cuba there are no
political prisoners.

About the Author: Augusto Cesar San Martin

Translated by MLK

Source: Opponents Tried for Common Crimes / Cubanet, Augusto Cesar San
Martin | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/opponents-tried-for-common-crimes-cubanet-augusto-cesar-san-martin/