Foreigners Detained in Cuba Without Charges for More Than a Year

HAVANA TIMES — Executives of three foreign companies detained by Cuban authorities for a year or more have still not been formally charged with any crime, said sources related to the cases, reported Reuters.

The police closed the offices of the Canadian commercial company Tri-Star Caribe in July 2011, as well as those of the Canadian group Tokmakjian in September of that same year, while the following month the British investment firm Coral Capital Group Ltd. was shut down.

Canadian entrepreneurs Cy Tokmakjian and Sarkis Yacoubian were arrested and confined in secured homes; however earlier this year they were transferred to La Condesa, a prison for foreigners on the outskirts of Havana.

Meanwhile, British citizen Fakhre Amado was recently transferred to a military hospital when becoming ill following several months in jail. His chief operating officer, Stephen Purvis, was arrested in April 2012 and is in Villa Marista, the main prison of the State Security office.

When Cuban Attorney General Dario Delgado was asked about these matters, he told Reuters the research phase of the process was still incomplete due to the complex nature of the alleged crimes.

European diplomats say that the cases are being handled within the parameters of Cuban law, but without due process according to their standards.