Sonia Garro’s trial postponed once more

Sonia Garro's trial postponed once more

As Sonia Garro's trial has been again postponed, after initially being
announced for June 30th, the Czech NGO People in Need would like to
express its concerns about the potential outcome of her case. She has
been accused of aggression, public disorder and attempted murder against
a policeman who was trying to arrest her, charges for which she could be
facing a ten year sentence. As her lawyer at the time mentioned, the
accusations are unfounded and the sentences demanded by the Prosecution
are excessive and unnecessarily severe. The trial was previously
postponed in October 2013 without any explanations or the setting of a
new date by the Court, as is often the case with trials dealing with
political dissidents in Cuba.

As a member of the Ladies in White, Sonia Garro, along with two other
opposition activists - her husband Ramón Alejandro Muñoz González and
Eugenio Hernández Hernández, were violently taken into custody and
arrested in March 2012, during Pope's Benedict XVI visit to the island,
following an aggressive intervention in which the authorities used the
Special Forces.

They have been imprisoned without a trial for more than two years,
during which Sonia's health has deteriorated significantly. Sonia and
her husband have both been repeatedly subjected to physical and
psychological torture, i.e. beatings, interrogations, placement in
isolation cells among other acts, while in prison. She had to be
hospitalized several times due to poor health. Furthermore, on April
10th 2013, she was moved from the prison during the Open Day organized
for the journalists, so that they couldn't witness the terrible state
she was in.

This is why People in Need would like to bring added public attention
to her situation and to ask for human rights to be respected in the
cases of Sonia Garro, Ramón Alejandro Muñoz González and Eugenio
Hernández Hernández .

Sincerely,

Cuban Team / Equipo de Cuba

People in Need - Human Rights and Democracy