Cuban Dissidents Calling Punishment of Carromero “Excessive”

HAVANA TIMES — Members of the Cuban political opposition on Thursday described the request by the prosecutor of seven years in prison for Spanish citizen Angel Carromero as “excessive.” The young man was driving the vehicle in which opposition leaders Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero died, reports the EFE news agency.

Elizardo Sanchez, a leader of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said the decision seems like an “excessive request by the prosecutor” because Carromero “was a victim of the poor road conditions that exist in Cuba and the lack of road safety precautions that are experienced across our country.”

Sanchez also questioned the swiftness of this legal process, saying, “Such motions by the prosecution usually take over a year, plus the trial is likely to be behind closed doors for reasons of the political interest of the government.”

Another activists, Berta Soler (a leader of the Ladies in White dissident group), said that until the authorities “explain how the accident occurred, there’s no need to make a judgment or order seven years of imprisonment.”

Soler claimed that the trial will be held in Havana because it’s the home of the Paya family, whose members have tried unsuccessfully to see the defendant.