Cuba: One year too many: prisoners of conscience from the March 2003 crackdown

Cuba: One year too many: prisoners of conscience from the March 2003 crackdown

Index Number: AMR 25/005/2004
Date Published: 16 March 2004
Categories: Americas, Cuba

In the space of a few days beginning on 18 March 2003, the Cuban authorities arrested scores of dissidents in targeted sweeps. Some were subsequently released, but 75 of them were subjected to hasty and manifestly unfair trials in early April and quickly sentenced to long prison terms of up to 28 years. Most appealed their sentences, but the appeals were rejected. This report examines the prison conditions in which the prisoners of conscience, including allegations of ill-treatment and ill-health.