GENEVA, May 7, 2019 – Swiss-based human rights group UN Watch today welcomed the release on parole of Cuban political prisoner Eduardo Cardet following two and a half years in prison on trumped-up charges.

However, UN Watch urged the Cuban government to abide by a recent UN decision, which unanimously upheld UN Watch’s petition to declare Cardet a victim of arbitrary detention, and to release him fully and without any conditions.

“We urge UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and human rights chief Michele Bachelet to demand that Cuba uphold its basic obligation, as an elected member of the UN Human Rights Council, to comply with the ruling of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a non-governmental organization accredited with special consultative status at the United Nations.

“The leadership must remind Cuba that the 5-member UN panel demanded that Cuba immediately release Dr. Cardet without any conditions whatsoever; compensate him for their arbitrary deprivation of his liberty; thoroughly investigate Dr. Cardet’s case in order to ensure accountability for those responsible for his treatment; and launch larger reforms to bring the country’s justice system in line with international standards.”

Last year, in June 2018, UN Watch filed a petition and legal brief on Cardet’s behalf with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

In its Opinion no. 66/2018 (unofficial English translation here), the UN panel found that Cuba’s arrest of Dr. Cardet, leader of the pro-democracy Christian Liberation Movement, with no legal basis. 

Neuer said it was “shameful” for Cuba to ignore the Working Group’s decision not only because it is a member of the UNHRC, but also because Cuba voted in 2016 for a UN resolution urging all states to cooperate with the Working Group, and to take appropriate steps to remedy the situation of the prisoners in question.

While Dr. Cardet noted the “ambiguous and unjust terms” of his parole, he maintained hope for an improvement in the situation for fellow dissidents oppressed by the Cuban regime.

“I’ve been in prison for around two and a half years, but here we are, and we’re on our feet, full of life, full of desires and hoping for the best for everyone, especially for our people who are in such a difficult situation right now,” he said.

Background on Arrest of Cardet

Cuban security forces violently arrested Dr. Cardet outside his home on November 30, 2016, after he returned from an overseas trip where he was quoted saying that “Castro was a very controversial man, very much hated and rejected by our people.”

Cuban State Security forces threatened his wife that they would arrest Dr. Cardet on his return due to his political activism.

Dr. Cardet became a democracy activist with the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) in Cuba in the early 2000s and rose up through the ranks to become its leader in 2014. He has spearheaded MCL initiatives aimed at peaceful democratic change in Cuba, including The Varela Project and One Cuban, One Vote.

On March 20, 2017, a Cuban court convicted Dr. Cardet in an unfair trial on trumped-up charges of attacking a police officer during his arrest and sentenced him to three years in prison.

Since being arrested, Dr. Cardet has been subjected to severe beatings, harsh prison conditions, denial of medical treatment, denial of visits by a priest, denial of release on bail, and routine deprivation of family visits.

Most recently, on May 26, 2018, the Cuban authorities suspended family visits altogether for a six-month period as punishment for the family’s public campaign for Dr. Cardet’s release. Cuban agents have also harassed Dr. Cardet’s family, monitoring their movements and throwing rocks at the family home.

UN Watch’s Campaign For Cuban Victims

UN Watch, founded in 1993 by civil rights leader Morris Abram, has been a leading voice for Cuban human rights defenders and victims at the UN. The group often brings Cuban dissidents to testify before UN bodies, including the Human Rights Council.

In May 2018, when senior Cuban officials came before the UN for a mandatory review of the regime’s human rights record, UN Watch and its partners co-hosted the only counter-event, featuring Cuban dissident Rosa Maria Payá, Freedom House’s Alessandra Pinna, CADAL’s Gabriel C. Salvia and UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer.

At the side event, UN Watch revealed how the Cuban regime submitted hundreds of positive reviews of its human rights record from supposed NGOs which are in fact state-controlled entities unconnected to human rights—including the “Cuban Urological Society” and the “Cuban Federation of Canine Sports.” UN Watch exposed the fraud, which was reported worldwide by Spanish newswire EFE.

During the UNHRC plenary debate, Cuban official Rodolfo Reyes lashed out at UN Watch for exposing his regime’s abuses, saying, “We reject the dirty and failed maneuvers of organizations like Freedom House and United Nations Watch, both with a well-known record of actions against every fair and noble cause that exists in the world.”

BELOW: UN Watch highlighted Eduardo Cardet’s plight at its 2018 and 2019 Geneva Summit for Human Rights.

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GENEVA, March 7, 2019 – The Swiss non-governmental human rights group United Nations Watch announced today, in a written filing that will be circulated next week by the UN Human Rights Council ahead of its March 12^th debate on human rights situations that require the world’s attention, that Cuba’s most famous political prisoner—Dr. Eduardo Cardet, leader of the Christian Liberation Movement—won a UN ruling calling for his release.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, a quasi-judicial panel of five experts, upheld in full a petition filed by United Nations Watch, a leading voice for Cuban dissidents, and determined that Cuba is “arbitrarily detaining” dissident Dr. Eduardo Cardet, who has been imprisoned by the regime since November 30, 2016, for criticizing Fidel Castro.
In its Opinion no. 66/2018 (unofficial English translation here), the Working Group found that Cuba arrested Dr. Cardet without a legal basis. The UN panel called on Cuba to immediately release Dr. Cardet and grant him reparations.
The Working Group found that “the deprivation of liberty of Mr. Eduardo Cardet Concepción is arbitrary,” noting specifically that it contravened the following Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees: the right to be free from arbitrary arrest, the right to a fair trial, the right to presumption of innocence, freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, and freedom of association.
An independent and impartial UN body, the Working Group consists of experts from Australia, Benin, Mexico, South Korea and Latvia. Cuba argued that the arrest, imprisonment and trial of Dr. Cardet should be considered legal under domestic and international law. In reaching its decision, the Working Group upheld the legal arguments made by United Nations Watch and rejected all of Cuba’s arguments seeking to justify its imprisonment of Dr. Cardet.
“This is an important decision by the Working Group,” said United Nations Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer. “The Cuban government holds onto power by suppressing democracy. It routinely punishes political dissent through an array of human rights abuses including arbitrary arrests, beatings and other cruel and inhuman treatment, and harassment of activists and their families. Following its thorough review of the facts and evidence, the Working Group has found that Cuba’s treatment of Dr. Cardet, a pro-democracy activist, violated his rights under international law. We call on Cuba to honor the UN body’s decision, and to immediately release Dr. Cardet.”
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MORE INFORMATION
Highlights of the Working Group’s decision are as follows.
Concerning the legal basis for Dr. Cardet’s arrest, the Working Group concluded (at Paras 47-49):
In the present case, state security officials, without identifying themselves, arrested Mr. Cardet Concepción in a violent manner, without explanation. They did not show an arrest warrant, nor did they inform him of the existence of criminal charges against him. In addition, Mr. Cardet Concepción was not brought promptly before a judge. There was no independent judicial control of the detention. On the contrary, he was taken to a local police station, where he was beaten again and held incommunicado for nine days. He did not have access to a lawyer. He was denied visits and phone calls, his family was unaware of his whereabouts… In view of these considerations, in the absence of a warrant of arrest and subsequent incommunicado detention, lack of judicial control, legal, medical and family contact, the Working Group must conclude that there was no legal basis for the arrest, so that the detention is considered arbitrary under category I, being contrary to Articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Concerning the violation of Dr. Cardet’s rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, the Working Group concluded (at Paras 52-54):
In the present case, two days after Mr. Cardet Concepción made public statements against the former President of the Republic, in the peaceful exercise of his human rights, he was arrested on the street by officers of the State Security forces. Likewise, this detention was preceded by threats and harassment by official agents to the family of Mr. Cardet Concepción, who were told the authorities would arrest him for being counterrevolutionary. In addition, agents of the State Security forces have repeatedly threatened and harassed Mr. Cardet during his detention, both before and after his conviction, telling him that if he gives up his beliefs and opinions he will be released… In view of the foregoing, the Working Group considers that the Cuban authorities deprived Mr. Cardet Concepción of his freedom to exercise his rights to freedom of thought, conscience, opinion, expression, association and participation, recognized in Articles 18, 19, 20 and 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which makes it arbitrary according to category II.
Concerning the violation of Dr. Cardet’s due process rights, the Working Group concluded (at Paras 57-60):
In the opinion of the Working Group, the lack of communication during the first days of the arrest and the beginning of the trial, the lack of access to a lawyer, the ill-treatment and the inhuman conditions of detention, indicate that Mr. Cardet Concepción did not receive a fair trial with the guarantees of due process. The source also established that in Cuba the courts are subordinated to the executive and legislative branches, which are controlled by the Communist Party. The Working Group is aware that treaty bodies, of which Cuba is a party, have expressed concern about the lack of independence of the judiciary… The Working Group was convinced that the Cuban authorities seriously failed to observe international norms regarding the right to a fair, independent and impartial trial, which contravenes the provisions of Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Rights Human, and makes the detention arbitrary according to Category III of the Methods of Work.
For more information about the case, see here.
 

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UN Watch hopes to exert pressure on Cuba

GENEVA, July 26, 2018 – Human rights lawyers lodged a legal complaint with the UN today to demand that Cuba release Dr. Eduardo Cardet, a dissident who has been jailed, severely beaten and denied medical treatment since his violent arrest on November 30, 2016.
The 23-page legal complaint to the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, an independent tribunal of five jurists and human rights experts, was submitted by attorneys from the Geneva-based non-governmental human rights group UN Watch.
The UN panel’s rulings are not legally binding, but are cited by judges worldwide and can exert pressure on governments to release those imprisoned without due process.
“Cuba’s brutal treatment of Dr. Cardet is part of its pattern of repression and intimidation against civil society activists who dare to speak out against the one-party regime,” said UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer, a human rights lawyer.
“Arbitrary detention should not be used as a tool to suppress political dissent. Our complaint seeks to hold Cuba accountable for its wrongful imprisonment of Dr. Cardet—a violation of international law and of Dr. Cardet’s human rights.”
“As a member of the 47-nation Human Rights Council, Cuba will be in contempt of its basic obligations if it ignores a ruling from that body’s experts calling for the release of Dr. Cardet.”
Background about the case
Cuban security forces violently arrested Dr. Cardet outside his home on November 30, 2016, after he returned from an overseas trip where he was quoted saying that “Castro was a very controversial man, very much hated and rejected by our people.”
Cuban State Security forces threatened his wife that they would arrest Dr. Cardet on his return due to his political activism.
Dr. Cardet became a democracy activist with the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) in Cuba in the early 2000s and rose up through the ranks to become its leader in 2014. He has spearheaded MCL initiatives aimed at peaceful democratic change in Cuba, including The Varela Project and One Cuban, One Vote.
On March 20, 2017, a Cuban court convicted Dr. Cardet in an unfair trial on trumped-up charges of attacking a police officer during his arrest, and sentenced him to three years in prison.
Since being arrested, Dr. Cardet has been subjected to severe beatings, harsh prison conditions, denial of medical treatment, denial of visits by a priest, denial of release on bail, and routine deprivation of family visits.
Most recently, on May 26, 2018, the Cuban authorities suspended family visits altogether for a six-month period as punishment for the family’s public campaign for Dr. Cardet’s release. Cuban agents have also harassed Dr. Cardet’s family, monitoring their movements and throwing rocks at the family home.
UN Watch is leading voice at the United Nations for Cuban victims
UN Watch, founded in 1993 by civil rights leader Morris Abram, has been a leading voice for Cuban human rights defenders and victims at the UN. The group often brings Cuban dissidents to testify before UN bodies, including the Human Rights Council.
On May 16, when senior Cuban officials came before the UN for a mandatory review of the regime’s human rights record, UN Watch and its partners co-hosted the only counter-event, featuring Cuban dissident Rosa Maria Payá, Freedom House’s Alessandra Pinna, CADAL’s Gabriel C. Salvia, and UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer.
At the side event, UN Watch revealed how the Cuban regime submitted hundreds of positive reviews of its human rights record from supposed non-governmental organizations that are in fact state-controlled—including the “Cuban Urological Society” and the “Cuban Federation of Canine Sports.” UN Watch exposed the fraud, which was reported worldwide by Spanish newswire EFE.
During the UN plenary debate, top Cuban diplomat Rodolfo Reyes lashed out at UN Watch for exposing his regime’s abuses, as quoted on Cuba’s state television, saying, “We reject the dirty and failed maneuvers of organizations like Freedom House and United Nations Watch, both with a well-known record of actions against every fair and noble cause that exists in the world.”

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