Spaniard goes on trial in Cuba dissident's death

Posted on Friday, 10.05.12

Spaniard goes on trial in Cuba dissident's death
By FERNANDO GONZALEZ
Associated Press

BAYAMO, Cuba -- A Spanish man held in Cuba went on trial Friday in
connection with a car crash in which a prominent dissident was killed,
and several government opponents were detained in this eastern city
where the proceedings were taking place.

Angel Carromero arrived in a white van at a courthouse in Bayamo, about
500 miles (800 kilometers) east of the capital and near the site of the
July 22 highway crash in which Oswaldo Paya and another dissident,
Harold Cepero, died.

Authorities accused Carromero of speeding and charged him with the
equivalent of vehicular manslaughter, which carries a possible penalty
of up to 10 years under Cuban law. In videotaped statements, the
Spaniard has said he lost control upon driving into an unpaved section
of road, and the vehicle skidded into a tree.

His defense argued Friday that it was impossible to determine the exact
velocity of the vehicle, and asked for him to be released to house arrest.

"We will see how it all comes out. We are optimistic," said Spanish
consul Tomas Rodriguez, who was observing the trial.

Pro-government bloggers in Bayamo reported that dissident writer Yoani
Sanchez was detained by local authorities shortly before arriving in the
city. Calls to her cellphone went unanswered, but human rights monitor
Elizardo Sanchez in Havana also reported the detentions Thursday night
of Sanchez; her husband, Reinaldo Escobar; and a third man in the
vehicle. He said at least a half-dozen other dissidents in and around
Bayamo also were detained.

The government has not confirmed the detentions and rarely does in such
cases.

Yoani and Elizardo Sanchez are not related.

Carromero, who is affiliated with a youth wing of Spain's ruling
conservative party, and Swede Aron Modig, also a political activist in
his home country, had traveled to Cuba to support the island's dissident
community, people are branded traitors and mercenaries by the Cuban
government.

They were driving to eastern Cuba with Paya and Cepero in the back seats
when the crash happened. The Europeans, who were in the front and
wearing seatbelts, were not seriously injured.

Modig returned to Sweden a little over a week after the accident.

Paya, 60, was famous for leading the Varela Project, a petition that
gathered thousands of signatures calling for a referendum on rights such
as freedom of speech and assembly.

The European Union awarded Paya its Sakharov human rights prize in 2002
in recognition of the project.

Associated Press writer Andrea Rodriguez in Havana contributed to this
report.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/05/3035732/spaniard-on-trial-in-cuba-in-dissidents.html