New prisoner of conscience in Cuba: Ulises González Moreno condemned to 2 years in prison

Ulises González Moreno arrives in prison transport to hearing

The judicial farce with regards to the independent labor activist Ulises González Moreno ended this afternoon confirming that he will serve two years in prison for preserving his dignity as a person. Beginning at 9:00am this morning there was a hearing at the Popular Provincial Tribunal of Havana to consider an appeal to the two year prison sentence.

The term "farce" is not an exaggeration because the Cuban criminal code criminalizes dissent and secondly as recognized by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: " there is no separation of powers in Cuba which, in this case, would guarantee the independence of the administration of justice." 

The charge of "peligrosidad social predelictiva" which translates into English as a "predilection to social dangerousness"is as Orwellian a charge as one can be charged with. Human Rights Watch in their 2009 report  New Castro, Same Cuba stated that:

 "Criminal Code offense of 'dangerousness,' which allows authorities to imprison individuals before they have committed any crime, on the suspicion that they are likely to commit an offense in the future. This 'dangerousness' provision is overtly political, defining as 'dangerous' any behavior that contradicts Cuba's socialist norms."

Amnesty International has asked the Cuban government to revoke a number of repressive laws that violate fundamental human rights. This is how Amnesty described the "dangerousness" law:

According to article 72 "any person shall be deemed dangerous if he or she has shown a proclivity to commit crimes demonstrated by conduct that is in manifest contradiction with the norms of socialist morality" and article 75.1 states that any police officer can issue a warning for such "dangerousness". The declaration of a dangerous pre-criminal state can be decided summarily. A warning may also be issued for associating with a "dangerous person".   

  Therefore the decision of what was to be done Ulises was decided before the hearing even began and the charge made against him was in and of itself a travesty.

Popular Provincial Tribunal of Havana were hearing was held today

Ulises González Moreno was found "guilty" on November 28, 2012 of the charge of "social dangerousness."

The day before the trial, November 27, 2012, he was made an offer by State Security to spy on the other activists in the independent labor organization he is a member of in order to avoid prison. Ulises rejected the "offer" telling the political police:  "Take me to jail right now, I'm no snitch."

Ivan Hernandez Carillo (L) reported on trial of Ulises González Moreno (R)

 Last night and today, former prisoner of conscience and independent journalist Ivan Hernandez Carillo tweeted on the plight of Ulises González Moreno and a translation is reproduced below:

Tomorrow at 9:00am will be the oral appeal hearing for independent labor activist Ulises González Moreno.  

The hearing against labor activist Ulises González Moreno will be in the Popular Provincial Tribunal of Havana.  

Independent labor activist Ulises González Moreno will be represented tomorrow at the appeal hearing by counsel Amelia Rodríguez Cala.

At 9:28am today Ivan tweeted: The trial of independent unionist Ulises González Moreno just ended , the tribunal said it was conclusive for ruling.

Court said that during the course of the day it would reveal the outcome of the trial against independent unionist Ulises González.

Regime's ministerial prosecutor recommended keeping the conviction of two years imprisonment for independent unionist Ulises González.

Counsel Amelia Rodriguez said her client was here charged with a political offense, not "high level of social dangerousness."

The defense attorney said that Ulysses González has ties to work, meets only with his family and that it was reflected in his preparatory record.

Counsel Amelia Rodriguez at the trial showed documents proving Ulysses González is a member of the CTIC, and the prosecution accepted documents.

Ivan Herandez Carillo concluded at 9:40am over twitter that, "The dictatorial regime that badly governs our country does what it wants and lawyers are figureheads, sad to say."

At 1:16pm Ivan posted a photo of Ulises over twitter writing: "Photo of Ulises González Moreno showing his firmness despite farce regime carried out against him."

At 1:20pm Ivan reported: "Jaqueline Dali Knight just informed me her husband, Labor activist Ulises González Moreno had just been condemned to two yrs in jail" 

Labor activist Ulises González Moreno is to spend the next two years in prison because he advocated for the rights of Cuban workers and refused to spy on his friends and colleagues.

Ulysses González Moreno seated with his wife Jaqueline Dali Knight