Cuba frees dissident leader who spent 17 years in prison
By The Associated Press
HAVANA — A veteran dissident leader who wrote a book about Cuban prison
conditions while behind bars was freed over the weekend after serving
his entire 17-year sentence, rights groups said Monday.
Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, widely known by the nickname "Antunez," was
released Sunday morning from prison in the central province of Villa
Clara, the opposition group Bitacora Cubana said in a statement.
Originally arrested on charges of engaging in enemy propaganda and
attempted sabotage in 1990, Garcia Perez was among the prisoners Pope
John Paul II had asked the government to release. But he was not among
the 14 people the Cuban government said it had freed in conjunction with
the January 1998 papal visit.
In Havana, a rights group confirmed Garcia Perez's release even as it
reported a new case of a dissident attorney sentenced after a secret
trial to 12 years in prison for painting graffiti and distributing
anti-government pamphlets.
Rolando Jimenez Posada was charged with disrespect for authority and
revealing state secrets. He was tried in Havana over the weekend without
a defense attorney or family members present, said Elizardo Sanchez,
spokesman for the independent Cuban Commission for Human Rights and
Reconciliation.
Sanchez said Jimenez Posada was transported to the proceeding from Isla
de la Juventud, where he has been jailed since his arrest in early 2003.
It was unclear whether the time already spent in jail would count toward
the 12-year sentence.
Earlier this month, the rights commission criticized what it said was
the secret trial of independent journalist Oscar Sanchez Madan.
Sanchez Madan, who wrote about dissident groups and the hardships of
Cuban life, was arrested April 13 and tried in a secret hearing that
day, the rights commission said. He was convicted of the vaguely worded
charge of "social dangerousness," and sentenced to four years in prison.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003678651_cuban24.html?syndication=rss
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