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« 'We won, and I'm still in the fight,' says Cuban ex-political prisoner Marcelino Abreu after release | Main | Former Cuban prisoners of conscience demand right to travel overseas »

October 29, 2014

Cuban prisoner of conscience Ivan Fernandez Depestre on hunger strike

6a00d8341c54f053ef01901e9e7909970b-800wiIvan Fernandez Depestre

Cuban prisoner of conscience Ivan Fernandez Depestre has been on hunger strike since Oct. 9, about the time he was severely beaten by senior guards at the Guamajal prison and thrown into a punishment cell, according to the Cuban Democratic Directorate.

The report was based on information provided by Cuban activist Yris Pérez Aguilera, of the Rosa Parks Feminist Movement for Civil Rights.

"We hold the Castro regime responsible for happens to Ivan Fernandez Depestre," Perez Aguilera said.

Amnesty International recognized Fernandez as a prisoner of conscience in September 2013, soon after he was found to be a "pre-criminal social danger" by a Castro court and sentenced to three years in prison. He had been arrested on July 30, 2013, while participating in an anti-government protest in the town of Placetas.

“Iván Fernández Depestre is being held only because he holds opinions contrary to those of the Cuban authorities. He must be released immediately and unconditionally,” Javier Zúñiga, a special advisor for Amnesty International, said in an AI news release announcing the group's designation of Fernandez as a prisoner of conscience.

Posted by on October 29, 2014 at 06:57 PM |

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