THE CUBAN CITIZEN, KEILYLLI DE LA MORA VALLE, IS IN A SITUATION OF GRAVE URGENCY, HER RIGHTS TO LIFE AND PERSONAL INTEGRITY ARE AT SERIOUS RISK.
SHE HAS BEEN ON HUNGER STRIKE SINCE JUNE 29, 2020 IN THE FACE OF PERSECUTION, ASSAULTS AND HARASSMENT IN PRISON.
Keilylli was wrongfully convicted through a summary trial by the Provincial People’s Court of Cienfuegos on May 7, 2020 to 1 year and six months of deprivation of liberty, for the false crimes of: the spread of epidemics, contempt, resistance and disobedience. An appeal was filed against the sentence, the proposed resolution was rejected and Keilylli has been in prison since June 4. Since entering the Sabana Miguel Penitentiary Center in Cienfuegos, Cuba, she went on a hunger strike to protest her imprisonment and was transferred to an isolated cell inside the prison. As a result of the hunger strike, the activist was in critical condition, showing signs of severe dehydration, kidney failure and weight loss of more than 5 kilos. In these conditions she was transferred to the Provincial Hospital of Cienfuegos, where she remained from the June 11-13. Pressure on her family and threats to her physical integrity by the Cuban authorities and State Security caused Keilylli to temporarily cease her hunger strike on June 16.
Days later, it was found that Keilylli de la Mora Valle, in weakened physical condition, had been held in a punishment cell and isolated from the rest of the prison population, under the excuse of a possible diagnosis of Covid-19.
Prison authorities then placed Keilylli with inmates convicted of serious crimes, to endanger her life, safety and health. On Friday June 26, 2020, a State Security officer, identified as “Agent Emanuel,” threatened to increase her years in prison if she contacted the outside of the prison to disclose information on her health status again.
On June 29, 2020, Keilylli de la Mora Valle, restarted her hunger strike due to an alleged beating she suffered at the hands of two prison guards, and the possibility of repeated acts of harassment and threats to her life and physical integrity, by the Head of Penitentiary Reeducation (political indoctrination) and then by the Chief of Penitentiaries.
In recent days, it has been found that Keilylli was admitted to the Provincial Hospital of Cienfuegos after attempting to take her own life twice in prison. Today she is being held incommunicado and detained in a psychiatric ward where she has been tied up at least once, and is beaten every time she is injected with sedatives so that she does not protest.She remains on hunger strike. Neither her husband, nor other family members, nor opposition colleagues have been allowed to visit her as of yet.
We ask for your help to save Keilylli de la Mora’s life and to stop the impunity of the Cuban regime authorities. We ask your organization to speak out and demand the immediate release of Keilylli. Her life and existence are incompatible with Cuba’s prison system and the horrors to which she is subjected in her unjust political imprisonment.
Center of Complaints, Fundación para la Democracia Panamericana (FDP)
denuncias@cubadecide.com
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