Spanish judge throws out Payá family lawsuit

Posted on Tuesday, 09.24.13

Spanish judge throws out Payá family lawsuit
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
JTAMAYO@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM

A Spanish judge has rejected a lawsuit against Cuban security officials
filed by relatives of the late Havana dissident Oswaldo Payá, arguing
that Spanish politician Angel Carromero already has declared himself
responsible for the death of the democracy activist.

Judge Eloy Velasco also ruled that the death of Payá, founder of the
Christian Liberation Movement, in a car crash last summer did not amount
to a crime against humanity, and that the Spanish government also had
already accepted that the crash was an accident.

Payá's brother Carlos, a Madrid doctor, said Monday that he could not
comment on the ruling until he consulted with the family lawyer.
Velasco's decision was published in several Madrid news outlets,
apparently before lawyer Francisco Andujar Ramírez received a copy.

The lawsuit alleges that a Cuban State Security vehicle rammed a car
driven by Carromero and forced it to crash, killing Payá and fellow
dissident Harold Cepero on July 22, 2012. Carromero and Swedish
politician Jens Aron Modig suffered minor injuries.

A Cuban court found Carromero was speeding, lost control of his rented
car and crashed on his own. He was convicted of vehicular homicide and
sentenced to four years in prison, but was freed in December to serve
the rest of his sentence in Spain.

Velasco ruled that Carromero accepted the Cuban version in a pre-trial
video and during his one-day trial, and that the Spanish government had
"explicitly recognized" the verdict as part of the bilateral agreement
that allowed Carromero to fly home.

The allegation that the crash was caused by State Security "cannot be
verified," the judge wrote, adding that Carromero's driving record was
full of infractions and noting that Modig, who claimed to have been
asleep before the crash, was not "alerted or woken up … even though
(Carromero) claims they were being chased."

The lawsuit argued that the Spanish court had jurisdiction over Payá's
death because he was a Spanish citizen and his death was a crime against
humanity, due to its political overtones, but Velasco ruled the case did
not meet any of the requirements for a crime against humanity.

Trying Payá's death again before a Spanish court would amount to a kind
of double jeopardy, the judge wrote in his ruling, and to having a
Spanish court "review" the Cuban court's sentence just because Payá had
Spanish citizenship.

The lawsuit was filed by Payá's widow and daughter and specifically
named State Security Lt. Col. José Águilas, chief investigator for
crimes against the security of the state, and a Col. Llanes, identified
as the officer in charge of monitoring Payá's dissident activities.

Velasco's ruling closely paralleled the recommendations sent to the
judge Sept. 13 by prosecutor Teresa Sandoval, who argued that the
lawsuit should be spiked because both Carromero and the Spanish
government had already accepted that the death was accidental.

Carromero, a Madrid leader of the youth branch of Spain's ruling Popular
Party, went to Cuba with Modig, head of the youth branch of Sweden's
Christian Democratic Party, to deliver 8,000 Euros to democracy
activists on the island on behalf of a Swedish foundation.

Source: "Spanish judge throws out Payá family lawsuit - Cuba -
MiamiHerald.com" -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/24/3646416/spanish-judge-throws-out-paya.html#storylink=misearch