5 Cubans avoid execution for killings, hijack attempt
Five Cubans received long prison sentences but were spared the death
penalty for two killings and an attempted hijacking in April.
Posted on Thu, Sep. 20, 2007
BY WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press
HAVANA --
Four Cuban soldiers and a civilian were spared the death penalty for
killing a soldier and an officer in a crime spree that ended with a
botched attempt to hijack a plane to the United States, a leading rights
activist said Wednesday.
It was the second recent case involving killings by soldiers that didn't
end in capital punishment -- and that's ''something positive,'' said
Elizardo Sánchez of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National
Reconciliation.
''We hope the government will take other positive steps,'' Sánchez said,
such as commuting the sentences of 50 other inmates believed to be on
Cuba's Death Row.
Sgts. Yoan Torres and Leandro Cerezo received life sentences, and Sgt.
Karel de Miranda Rubio got 30 years from a secret military tribunal.
Capt. Alain Frobes received a 25-year prison term, and a civilian, Ridel
Leseaylle Veloz, was sentenced to 15 years, the commission said.
PROMPTED A MANHUNT
The soldiers killed one soldier and wounded another while escaping from
their base April 29, prompting a nationwide manhunt. They commandeered a
city bus four days later, headed to Havana's International Airport and
attempted to hijack a plane. Their escape attempt ended in a predawn
shootout in which an army lieutenant colonel was killed.
Cuba's government blamed Washington for the attempted hijacking, saying
American policy allowing most Cubans to stay if they reach U.S. soil
encourages violent attempts to leave the island.
Sánchez said three separate sources confirmed the men were sentenced
last week after a three-day trial behind closed doors in August, and the
commission obtained a copy of the 32-page sentencing decree.
The soldiers were ages 19 to 21, and the civilian was 31. Sánchez said
that under Cuban military law, only 21-year-old Torres was old enough to
face the death penalty.
Sánchez's commission earlier reported that four men involved in a
December prison uprising that killed two military officers and wounded
an inmate outside the eastern city of Santiago had also been spared the
death penalty. In that case, a prisoner and an army recruit working as a
prison guard were condemned to life behind bars and two other soldiers
on guard duty received 30-year sentences.
EXECUTIONS IN 2003
There have been no reported executions in Cuba since April 2003, when
three men convicted of hijacking a Havana passenger ferry with knives
and a gun were sent to a firing squad. No one was hurt in the attempt,
which came amid a wave of attempted boat and plane hijackings on the
island. The government's swift execution of the three men led to
widespread international condemnation.
Capital punishment in Cuba is always carried out by firing squad. It has
been used sparingly in recent years, usually in especially heinous
homicides.
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