(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 26 June 2001 letter to President Fidel Castro, CPJ condemned the unjust prosecution of José Orlando González Bridon, a Cuban journalist and labor activist who was recently sentenced to two years in jail for distributing “false information.” Since 15 December 2000, González Bridon has been incarcerated in the Combinado del Este […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 26 June 2001 letter to President Fidel Castro, CPJ condemned the unjust prosecution of José Orlando González Bridon, a Cuban journalist and labor activist who was recently sentenced to two years in jail for distributing “false information.”
Since 15 December 2000, González Bridon has been incarcerated in the Combinado del Este prison, east of Havana. In early April, the government prosecutor charged him under Article 103 of the Cuban Penal Code and asked the court for a seven-year jail sentence.
Article 103 says that any individual can be jailed for one to 15 years for “inciting against the social order, international solidarity, or the socialist State, through oral or written propaganda, or in any other form,” or for “spreading false news or malicious predictions tending to cause alarm or discontent among the population, or public disorder.”
Since October 1999, González Bridon has been writing articles for the Miami-based Cuba Free Press Website. An electronics engineer by trade, he also serves as the secretary-general of the Confederation of Cuban Democratic Workers (CTDC), an illegal trade union.
González Bridon was originally charged with spreading false information regarding the death of a fellow labor activist in a domestic abuse case. An article by the journalist posted to the Cuba Free Press site on 5 August, reported that CTDC National Coordinator Joanna González Herrera had been attacked by her ex-husband, and that Cuban police had failed to prevent her death.
During González Bridon’s trial, which was held behind closed doors on 24 May, his lawyer argued that González Herrera had reported her ex-husband’s threats to the police and was subsequently murdered by him. González Bridon reported these facts accurately, and therefore could not be accused of spreading false news.
González Bridon’s attorney also argued that because ordinary Cubans lack access to the Internet, the journalist could not have caused alarm or discontent among the population through his work, which was published online. He then requested González Bridon’s immediate and unconditional release.
In response, the state prosecutor changed the charges against González Bridon to “defamation of the institutions, heroes, and martyrs of the homeland” under Article 204 of the Penal Code, and requested a one-year prison sentence. The court announced that it would pass sentence within five days.
In early June, despite the new charge, the court found González Bridon guilty of distributing “false information for the purpose of disturbing the international peace, or to endanger the prestige or credibility of the Cuban State or its good relations with another State,” a criminal offense under Article 115 of the Penal Code, and increased the sentence to two years imprisonment.
Under Cuban sentencing regulations, a one-year prison term would have led to González Bridon’s release on 15 June, since he would have been eligible for parole after serving half his sentence. In cases involving political dissidents, it is not uncommon for Cuban courts to pass longer sentences than those sought by prosecutors.
On 8 June, a prison warden gave González Bridon a written copy of the sentence. On 13 June, González Bridon’s lawyer filed an appeal for annulment (recurso de casacion) on procedural grounds.
González Bridon’s unjust prosecution and imprisonment constitute a violation of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
CPJ took this opportunity to call for the immediate release of the independent journalist Bernardo Arévalo Padron, who has been imprisoned since 1997 for showing “contempt” for the president and for Cuban State Council member Carlos Lage (see IFEX alerts of 12 April, 26 and 12 March and 20 February 2001, 25 July and 11 April 2000, 10 December, 22 October, 17 June and 29 January 1999 and 21 September 1998). The journalist is currently in the labor camp El Diamante, in Cienfuegos, despite being eligible for parole, and his health has suffered as a result of his prolonged imprisonment.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– calling on him to do everything within his power to ensure that the appeal for annulment is granted
– asking him to ensure that González Bridon is released immediately and unconditionally
– requesting the immediate release of Arévalo Padron
Appeals To
His Excellency Fidel Castro Ruz
President of Cuba
c/o Cuban Mission to the United Nations
New York, NY
Fax: +212 779 1697
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
