Cuba News from New Press Agency

Special to CubaNet News

MEMBERS OF RELIGIOUS GROUP DETAINED

Havana, July 30, 1997
By Mercedes Moreno (ANP)

On Friday, July 25th, the brothers Fidel and José Castriles Rodríguez, members of the religious group Christian Fraternity (Fraternidad Cristiana), were arrested after a search of their home located in the Havana municipality of San Miguel del Padrón.

When searching the home, the authorities told them that they were looking for enemy propaganda, but nothing was found. According to a family member, the brothers are in detention at the 11th Police Unit in San Miguel del Padrón located in the Carolina subdivision of Havana and, according to the wife of one of them, they remain incommunicado by order of the State Security.

In Cuba, several Christian religious groups have joined the International Fraternity of Businessmen of the Complete Gospel, an entity which already has several chapters throughout the island, six of them in the capital.

THE JAIL SENTENCE OF INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST PAEZ NUÑEZ HAS BEEN RATIFIED

Havana, July 30, 1997
By Mercedes Moreno (ANP)

On July 24th, without the benefit of a hearing and after confirming that the remedy of appeal would not be admissible, the Court of Havana ratified the 18-month sentence of this bureau's journalist Lorenzo Paez Nuñez in a suit brought against him for contempt and slander of the National Police, contained in File No. 301-97.

A family member of our esteemed colleague residing in Artemisa, a borough of Havana, informed the New Press Agency (Agencia Nueva Prensa) that the court did not allow the defense to present any arguments on behalf of the accused, who will serve his sentence in the Guanajay Penitentiary, where he has already been confined.

POOR HEALTH OF POLITICAL PRISONER CONFINED TO AGUICA

Matanzas, July 30, 1997
By Ivan Hernández of the
Llanura Office (ANP)

Ricardo de Armas Hernández, the delegate of the Cuban Human Rights Party for the Matanzas Province, continues in detention at the Aguica high security penitentiary, located in Colón. According to a report received from the Llanura Office of the ANP, the 41-year old political prisoner is in bad health suffering from an old injury to his left eye.

Despite repeated requests for medical attention, the fact remains that de Armas Hernández has yet to be seen by a doctor, even though the specialist makes regular visits to said penitentiary.

In addition, the news correspondents of Nueva Prensa in Matanzas also report that Armas Hernández recently received a brutal beating from two common criminals, and that it is believed that this incident was arranged because, according to the aggressors, they beat him due to a report which the President of the Cuban Human Rights Party in said Province was going to send to the outside world.

Moreover, the members of said human rights organization in Matanzas fear for the physical well-being of their President and expressed their preoccupation for the arbitrary actions of the Aguica authorities, where also imprisoned is Victor Reynaldo Infante Estrada, recognized by International Amnesty as being a conscientious prisoner.

HECTOR PALACIOS CONTRACTS CONJUNCTIVITIS IN PRISON

Havana, July 30, 1997
By Lázaro Lazo (ANP)

The President of the Democratic Solidarity Party, Héctor Palacios Ruiz, contracted conjunctivitis in the Combinado del Este holding facility in Havana, where he awaits trial for showing lack of respect to the figure of the leader of the Cuban State.

During a phone conversation with Gisela Delgado Sablón, wife of the well-known opposition figure, ANP also learned that the authorities have already brought suit against him, but no date has been given for the oral hearing, which will take place in the Provincial Court of the City of Havana.

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