1474/2013

Summary title: Petition 1474/2013 by J. L. V. A. (Spanish) on behalf of Juana Acosta Castillo on violence and breaches of human rights by the Cuban Government

Petition number: 1474/2013

Topics: External Relations

Country: Cuba,  European Union

Name: European Parliament

The petitioner describes how Osvaldo Rodríguez Acosta, the founder of the Patriotic Alliance Movement in Cuba, and his son were imprisoned on the basis of exaggerated accusations of violence against a public official. According to Juana Acosta Castillo (the wife of Rodríguez Acosta), he had only resisted violence by military personnel who had forced entry to their house in order to arrest their older son, Osvaldo Rodríguez Castillo, for failure to report for military service. According to Rodríguez Acosta’s wife, the alleged ‘violence’ against a public official comprised bruising a soldier during an attempt by her husband to defend himself against the soldiers’ violence. Osvaldo Rodríguez Acosta, his wife and their two sons were arrested and imprisoned. Rodríguez Acosta and the older son were sentenced to 11 and 8 years’ imprisonment respectively, and his wife to 5 years in a labour camp, while the younger son was released. According to Rodríguez Acosta’s wife, the punishments were the outcome of an illegal political trial conducted because she and her husband did not see eye to eye with the Cuban regime. They regard themselves as political prisoners. Juana Acosta Castillo requests help from the international community so that her husband, who has already gone on hunger strike a number of times, does not die in prison.