Cuban dissidents to receive human rights award

Cuban dissidents to receive human rights award
ČTK | 8 FEBRUARY 2016

Prague, Feb 5 (CTK) - Eleven Cuban dissidents and former political
prisoners will receive the Homo Homini award for human rights promotion
from the Czech People in Need organisation at the beginning of the One
World film festival on March 7, Adela Pospichalova, from People in Need,
has told CTK.

The One World International Human Rights Film Festival will be held in
Prague on March 7-16.

The Cubans will be awarded for their courage and moral consistency with
which they decided to resist the pressure of the Cuban authorities and
not to leave the country and to keep fighting for freedom there.

"Eleven former political prisoners, who despite the pressure the regime
exerted on them to force them emigrate stayed on the island and
continued in the fight for broader freedom for Cuban citizens. To us,
these people symbolise all Cuban dissidents, political prisoners and
activists who are striving for democratic reforms," said People in Need
director Simon Panek.

In 2003, the regime of Fidel Castro detained 75 most significant
dissident and sent them to prisons for six to 28 years. Thanks to the
international effort in their support, most of them were conditionally
released in 2010. However, their sentences were only interrupted and
they may return behind bars any time, the organisers said.

"In spite of threats, persecution and everyday maltreatment, the 11
people have to date stayed in Cuba where they keep struggling for human
rights and freedoms," Pospichalova said, adding that the Cuban
government qualified the released dissidents as a security risk and
limited their rights.

One of the awarded dissidents, writer and journalist Jorge Olivera, said
he had never regretted and would never regret his decision to stay in Cuba.

"It was clear to me that I must stay in Cuba and continue in the fight
for democracy. I knew that it would not be easy and that there would be
no way back," Olivera added.

People in Need has worked in Cuba since 1997 when it started supporting
local dissidents and political prisoners.

Along with a changing situation in the country, it now more focuses on
support for the activities of independent civic groups and journalists.
It is also monitoring human rights observance and their possible
violations and stands up for people prosecuted for political reasons.

People in Need has bestowed the annual award on the personalities who
have greatly contributed to the promotion of human rights and democracy
in the world since 1994.

Last year, the award went to Syrian teacher and activist Souad Nawfal
who was actively protesting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's
regime as well as Islamic State.

Other Homo Homini laureates are, for instance, Azeri lawyer Intigam
Aliyev, Kyrgyz political prisoner Azimjan Askarov, sentenced to life,
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who later won the Nobel Peace Prize, as
well as Cuban Catholic dissident Oswaldo Paya Sardinas, who died in a
road accident in 2012.

Source: Cuban dissidents to receive human rights award | Prague Monitor
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http://www.praguemonitor.com/2016/02/08/cuban-dissidents-receive-human-rights-award