Cuban dissident journalist Alberto Santiago Du Bouchet, a reporter for the Habana Press news agency, was sentenced to three years in prison on May 12, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has learnt. Arrested on April 18 on a charge of “disrespect for authority,” he had been transferred to a prison on May 10. RSF does not expect his appeal to be successful.
“Hastily tried just two days after being jailed, Du Bouchet has little chance of having his sentence quashed on appeal as it was due above all to his activities as a dissident journalist,” RSF said. “The lawyer who filed the appeal on his behalf was not even able to attend the trial.”
It added, “Du Bouchet’s imprisonment brings the number of journalists detained in Cuba to 24. He is the fourth journalist to be jailed since Raúl Castro took over as President of the Council of State in July 2006. Despite the transition, Cuba still holds its position as the world’s second biggest prison for journalists.”
