Juan Bermudez Toranzo

Frankfurt am Main / Havana (25th of March 2008) - The International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) is reporting that the political prisoner Juan Bermudez Toranzo has been condemned to four years in prison in a manipulated court case on the 5th of March this year. The court case was held under extreme security measures and the public wasn't allowed to participate. On the 28th of February the Cuban government had signed the pact for civil and political rights which binds them to approve the minimum standards in trials.

Officers of the National Revolutionary police and members of the state security arrested Juan Bermudez Toranzo on the 21st of November 2007 when he wanted to protest against the permanent threats and attacks in front of the police station in Cambute.

"Only three weeks after the signing of the UN pact the action of the Castro regime in the case of Juan Bermudez Toranzo shows that the signing was only a propaganda measure and unfortunately has no meaning for the role of the human rights in Cuba. Exactly this was a fear of human rights activists. Some politicians and Europe, especially the government Zapatero in Spain, don't want to accept this sad truth", the Speaker of the Board of the ISHR, Martin Lessenthin, is criticizing.