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More update on the Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva case...

PRESS RELEASE - Please distribute
October 22, 2002
IN CUBA, INCARCERATED BLIND LAWYER
AWAITING TRIAL IS SUFFERING ILL HEALTH

Refuses to be fed intravenously

Requests to act as his own lawyer in court; that the foreign news media cover
the trial, and that it be aired live on Cuban TV

Juan Carlos GonzAlez Leiva, a blind lawyer, president of the Cuban Foundation
for Human Rights is physically weak due to a fast he began September 4th to
protest the charges brought against him and nine other activists. The
Municipal Tribunal of Ciego de Avila asks that they serve prison terms of 6 -
8 years.

Imprisoned since March 4, 2002, Gonzalez Leiva is presently held at the
Operational Unit of State Security in Holguin province, accused along with
fellow activists of common crimes: several counts of "disrespect", "public
disorder", "resistance", and "disobedience."

On March 4, 2002 in the city of Ciego de Avila Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva and
nine other members of the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights staged a civic,
peaceful protest at the city hospital in solidarity with an independent
journalist who had been brutally beaten by State Security agents. All ten
activists were violently attacked, dragged, and arrested by the political
police and members of the Communist party. At present, eight activists are
held in different prisons since March 4th, while two women are under house
arrest awaiting trial.

Physically weak, suffering fatigue and severe headaches, Juan Carlos Gonzalez
Leiva refused to be fed intravenously and is determined to continue fasting
indefinitely. He states that he will not be taken before a tribunal, which
accuses him of being a terrorist.

Through a letter, this blind lawyer has made a request to Cuba's Minister of
Justice, Roberto Diaz Sotolongo, to act as his own lawyer and to allow the
foreign press to cover the trial, as well as air it live on Cuban TV.
González Leiva is convinced that if these requests are met, the innocence of
the accused activists will be proven before humankind and the tribunal.
---------------------------------------------------
Information obtained via telephone from Cuba.
Recorded and transcribed in the USA
Coalition of Cuban-American Women/ LAIDA A. CARRO
E-mail: Joseito76 @aol.com

Does anyone have any news on the health of Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva?