The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention solicitous the immediate release of Yandier García Labrada, a Cuban peasant and opposition member sentenced to five years in prison for “contempt”, “attack on authority” and “spreading epidemics”.
In his Opinion No. 68/2023, In its decision issued during the 98th session and published in mid-March, the group concluded that García Labrada's detention is arbitrary and violates the rights guaranteed by articles 7, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20 and 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Furthermore, the Cuban State is urged to compensate and make reparations to García Labrada; investigate and punish those responsible for his detention; and report on compliance with this decision within six months of its publication, which expires in October 2024.
García Labrada, a member of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), was violently arrested on October 6, 2020, while waiting in line to buy food in Manatí, Las Tunas, where he lives. After being pushed by a security guard and protesting the disorganization and irregularities in the distribution, the situation escalated when more people joined his protest, resulting in his arrest by the police.
Since his imprisonment, he has been transferred between several prisons, subjected to isolation, punishment cells, denial of medical care, and restrictions on communication with his family.
He is currently being held at the Guabineyón 8 correctional work center in Las Tunas, where he has been denied benefits such as home visits and probation, despite meeting the necessary requirements.
The Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights, which presented García Labrada's case to the UN Working Group, demands that the Cuban State immediately address this request for release, after he has been unjustly detained for more than three years.
From Cubalex we call on the international community to monitor compliance with this Opinion and to continue denouncing human rights violations in Cuba.