Journalist gets three-year jail sentence
Reporters Without Borders has learned that dissident journalist Alberto
Santiago Du Bouchet, a reporter for the Habana Press news agency, was
sentenced to three years in prison on 12 May. Arrested on 18 April on a
charge of "disrespect for authority," he had been transferred to a
prison on 10 May. The press freedom organisation does not expect his
appeal to be successful.
"Hastily tried just two days after being jailed, Du Bouchet has little
chance of having his sentence quashed on appeal as it was due above all
to his activities as a dissident journalist," Reporters Without Borders
said. "The lawyer who filed the appeal on his behalf was not even able
to attend the trial."
The press freedom organisation added: "Du Bouchet's imprisonment brings
the number of journalists detained in Cuba to 24. He is the fourth
journalist to be jailed since Raúl Castro took over as President of the
Council of State in July 2006. Despite the transition, Cuba still holds
its position as the world's second biggest prison for journalists."
Reporters sans frontières - Cuba (16 May 2009)
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