The four judicial officials are being sanctioned due to a ‘gross violation of human rights.’
The Trump administration is sanctioning four Cuban judicial officials over their alleged roles in the detention of a political dissident in 2020, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday.
Rubio named the four individuals as prosecutor Yanaisa Matos Legrá and judges Gladys Maria Padrón Canals, Maria Elena Fornari Conde, and Juan Sosa Orama.
He said the four were being sanctioned by the State Department due to a “gross violation of human rights,” namely the “arbitrary detention” of Cuban dissident, Luis Robles Elizástigui.
All four of the sanctioned individuals work at the People’s Provincial Court of Havana, where they oversaw the prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of Robles Elizástigui on behalf of the Cuban regime, Rubio said.
As a result of the sanctions, the individuals and their families are banned from entering the United States, he stated.
“Judges and prosecutors who are agents of the regime, not of an independent judiciary, play a critical role in these arbitrary detentions and prosecutions,” Rubio said in a statement. “They are responsible for the sham legal processes that unjustly target, convict, and sentence individuals for peaceful expressions and activism.”
Robles Elizástigui was arrested while protesting in Cuba’s capital city of Havana in December 2020 while holding a sign that read “Liberty” and “No more Repression.”
He was charged with “disobedience” and “enemy propaganda,” according to his family and rights groups.
Robles was released from jail in January as part of a Biden administration deal brokered by the Vatican.
Rubio, who is the son of Cuban immigrants, said the sanctions against the four individuals are further proof that the Trump administration is “committed to holding accountable Cuban regime officials involved in violating human rights.”
“We continue to use all available tools to stand up for the human rights of the Cuban people and encourage our allies and partners to do the same,” he said.
Rubio Condemns Re-arrests of Political Prisoners
Rubio also drew attention to the recent re-arrests of political prisoners who he said are being returned to jail on “frivolous grounds,” including high-profile human rights activist José Daniel Ferrer, who founded an opposition group called the National Patriotic Union, or Unpacu, in 2011.
