Martin Lessenthin (ISHR) presents a copy of the complaint to the Human Rights Commissioner of the Federal Government of Germany, Günter Nooke.

Berlin / Geneva / Frankfurt am Main (November 30, 2006) - The International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) filed a complaint against the Republic of Cuba to the Human Rights Council. The Human Rights organization, based in Frankfurt, reproves in its complaint - on the basis of the UN Resolution 1503 - the Cuban legislation, arbitrary detentions, torture and unfair summary proceeding against civil rights activists and journalists criticizing the regime. Cuba, which has been dictatorially reigned by the Castro-brothers for 48 years, is a member of the 2006 newly established UN-board, which replaced the Human Rights Commission.

The Human Rights Commissioner of the Federal Government of Germany Günter Nooke wants the Federal Republic of Germany to use its EU-presidency to gain the embassies? support for the oppositional Cuban democrats. In order to do this the embassies shall regularly invite and contact the representatives of the Cuban democratic movement, for example by inviting them to celebrative occasions like the national holiday commemorated by the embassies.

So far, no complaint against Cuba based on the 1503-procedure has been tried. According to the notion of the ISHR, who has stood up for the political prisoners on the Caribbean island since 1977, the Human Rights are systematically and persistently violated in Cuba. The Human Rights organization has built up a database, wherein 304 current destinies of political prisoners are documented.

In the declaration of the ISHR published in Berlin and Geneva on November 30, 2006 is verbally written:

"With this complaint, by which we reprove the severe and systematic violation of fundamental Human Rights by the Cuban government, the ISHR applies to institute a 1503-Human-Rights-procedure at the Human Rights Council. The complaint especially concentrates on the dissidents, who were arrested in March 2003 and hardly a month later were sentenced to up to 28 years of imprisonment. We document these by the submitted 22 cases and appropriate documentary evidence.

We reprove the violation of the freedom of expression, press and of information, of the right of association and assembly, of the right on a fair process of law in accordance with the rule of law, violations against the ban on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments as well as violations against the canon of minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners.

We reprove the Law No 88 and the Article 91 of the Cuban Penal Code, who were and still are the two legal bases for the detention and conviction of political prisoners. Law No 88 consists out of relatively broad prescriptions, providing a wide scope for judgment evaluation according to this law. Article 91 of the Cuban Penal Code provides imprisonments for those who offend against the independence and territorial integrity - a prescription similarly vague as Law No 88 and providing jail sentences of up to 20 years or the death sentence. Such prescriptions outrage not only the principle of a fair and constitutional process but also opens the floodgates to arbitrary imprisonment; the prescriptions are clearly opposed to the standards against arbitrary detention, worked out by the UN. Last but not least the international law clarifies, that the freedom of expression can only be limited by detailed legal regulations and only in exceptional cases.

Furthermore, we regard the promulgation of the high sentences as a violation of the ban on torture and argue that the inhuman prison conditions accompanied by massive physical and psychological impairment constitute an offence against international standards. The Cuban state, as a member of the global community, has to keep to the commitments it incurred to and we hope that in the way of this complaint, an advancement of the circumstances of Human Rights in Cuba and an opening towards more democracy can be achieved."