Cuban independent journalist freed after six years in prison

Sunday, November 16, 2003

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Cuban independent journalist Bernardo Arevalo Padron was freed from a prison in eastern Cuba after having served six years on conviction of committing an "outrage" against the Communist government of President Fidel Castro, his friends said Friday.

"Effective yesterday (Thursday), Bernardo was released and is with his wife in Camaguey," 310 miles east of Havana, Laura Pollan, wife of imprisoned dissident Hector Maseda, told AFP.

Maseda is serving a 20-year sentence imposed last March after his arrest with 74 other opponents of the Castro regime.

Arevalo Padron, founder of the former independent press agency Linea Sur Press, which operated illegally in Cuba, was convicted on November 28 1997 and sentenced to six years in prison for anti-revolutionary activities.

Pollan said he told her by telephone that he was "in good health, even though he felt a bit nervous after such a long confinement," and that he would return to the capital in the coming days.

  Back...

  Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed

  Printable version