Here is the final sentence against Yamil.

Sentencia

March 30 2011

Written by: Wilfredo Vallín Almeida

The case opened one afternoon, when two women, one, the wife and the other who turned out to be the sister, of the Cuban living in Florida detained for many months for the crime of trafficking in persons, came to see me in my house.

The crime is one of individuals who, for payment, devote themselves to carrying people at time in good boats and other times not so good, to the United States or other places.

In the Cuban Penal Code it can be read in article 348.1:

He who penetrates the national territory utilizing a boat or airplane or other method of transport with the purpose of effecting the illegal exit of people, incurs a penalty of imprisonment of ten to twenty years.

Based on this, initially it seemed to me one of those cases that we of the Cuban Legal Association are accustomed to rejecting, being that the sanction applied conformed to that established by law and the correct process followed by the authorities.

This, however, was the case the ladies who came to see me presented, according to whom their relative had been (and was being) subjected to a grave injustice.

I listened to my interlocutors and asked them, if they had it, to show me the sentence which they did immediately. As I read I began to change my first impression and by the end I was convinced that what had happened to Yamil Domínguez Ramos was not clear at all.

In an article under the title “It is proved that…” I presented my complete conviction that against this young man, born in Cuba but a United States citizen, nothing had been proved and I decided to help his family. this began a true legal and civic struggle of Cuban civil society in support of a compatriot who needed it.

Soon the blog Notorious Injustice appeared, where the family published everything the family believed would shed light on the truth of this case and of the arbitrariness with which it had been handled from the procedural and ethical viewpoint.

As if all that were not enough, and when it seemed that all hope was lost, Yamil resorted to a desperate course only undertaken when one is completely convinced of the his reasons: a hunger strike that lasted more than one hundred days… and that led him to be hospitalized with his life at risk.

So many people showed their concern for and solidarity with this young victim of process that was…  a notorious injustice.

Ina culminating moment of this story, the first vice minister of justice issued a letter which pointed out the irregularities of the proceedings against Yamil Dominguez, saying that the events presented by the trial court did not demonstrate the young prisoner’s guilt.

We recognized this gesture of the first vice minister in a publication entitled, “Honor to Whom Honor is Due.”

Nevertheless, Yamil had to go to a second hunger strike before the blind intransigence that would not admit that he was innocent of what he had been illegally been charged with WITHOUT PROOF THAT…

I had a chance to visit him in prison twice. In both cases I could not help but be reminded on entering the Combinado del Este prison of that famous phrase from Dante: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here…”

But another phrase also came to mind, this time from the Master: “We all carry in our hearts a hope that never dies.”

Just now I arrived home and my wife greeted me with a radiant smile, telling me she had just heard from Yamil… from his house, with his family… already free.

So congratulations to Yamil, Inés María, Aya, Marleny and to the bloggers, to Julio Alfredo and all who made possible that, in the end, justice was done.

March 14 2011

From left to right: Yadaimí (sister), Inés (mother) and Marleny (wife).

Saying goodbye to Yamil at Jose Marti Airport, Havana, Cuba [on his way home to the U.S.].

March 7 2011

Yamil has been at liberty since Friday the 18th, after the trial at the Havana Peoples Provincial Court. We waited for the decision to let people know.

We are all VERY HAPPY and awaiting his return to the United States.

February 24 2011

Written by: Yamil Domínguez

For some time I haven’t written for my blog, although I continue being grateful to the three women who, together with my attorney, have raised the flag in the fight for truth and justice: my venerated mother, my stupendous sister and my passionate wife. Today I decided to prepare these words before continue to deteriorate without knowing what will happen going forward. I believe it’s worth it to leave off writing until I know my current situation.

I started this hunger strike on 3 December of last year, suspecting that I would again face the illegalities of the Attorney General of the Republic of Cuba, violating the terms required by the Criminal Procedures Act. Let me make clear that my position is against the shameful conduct of his office, but I hold the Cuban government responsible for situations like these that occur when in its last speech emphasized it equal rights and duties for all, without exception, this from the body that is designed to ensure that expression, but that openly violates it.

Until now they have only given me the opportunity to observe their political hatred; bring a citizen of the United States of American that have seen me like the worst of criminal. I also perceive the cruelty against my person of the acting prosecutor, who clearly does not act alone, but who insists in denying me a change in the terms of my custody without any reason, supporting his opinion with the same reasons that originally put me in the provisional prison. The never existed facts to support such action, but today more than ever he holds onto his original reasoning.

The investigating body of Villa Marista and members of the Ministry of the Interior have expressed to me, on several occasion, errors of one kind or another, when led to my being charged with the alleged crime of trafficking in persons. They recognize and admit that they were wrong, but one learns from one mistakes. They tell me they will not ban my entry into Cuba nor the way it occurred. The conclusions of the investigator, then to widen the investigation, faced with the mandate from the Supreme Court [that I was not guilty] were reported to me, my family and my attorney.

Supposedly according to the investigator I entered illegally, when there is a report from the Institute of Meteorology of the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, confirming adverse weather conditions in the straits of Florida, of which I was a victim. Moreover international laws are published through every means possible. For example, the International Code of Road Traffic indicates that a green light means go and a red light means stop, and this if valid around the entire world. If in Cuba there are exceptions to determined rules then they should be published in newspapers and magazines and made known to the outside world.

Ignorance does not exonerate you from responsibility but when it is beyond your control and impossible for you to know you should not be charged. If I have an illegal entry then everyone who arrived at an international port in Cuba does as well and if the objective is to justify the time I have been detained, there is no justification to detain me for one additional hour, when I have already exceeded the maximum limit of the sanction (3 years) for the supposed crime.

Why the is Prosecutor committed to the unjustifiable delay? What guarantees exist in the present for U.S. tourism? Doubts wash over me in the middle of this prison, I only hope that sooner rather than later, my most basic right is returned to me, which I never should have been deprived of.

“Respect is a right already won. Hatred takes away that right.”

José Martí.

January 26 2011

Written by: Yadaimí Domínguez

Faced with the delay of the Attorney General of the Republic, his refusal to modify the terms of custody and to violate the terms provided in the law, my brother started a new hunger strike on December 30 with only four months of recovery from another that lasted 107 days.

In this he demands a review of his case, seeing how our family has knocked on so many doors and been greeted only by lethargy and deaf ears. Today he claims his freedom to which he has a right, at least until the completion of the process, a change of custody measures.

When we were notified in September by the People’s Supreme Court that the sentence No 120/2010 was annulled and the whole process restarted, Yamil recovered his serenity, having to remain for some time more deprived of his liberty while the Instructor complied with the order from the Judicial Body. It was the middle of October when the case came to the hands of the Instructor and he proved the truth of my brother’s declarations, and so delivered the conclusive report to the prosecutor November 30, saying that the charge that Yamil supposedly entered the country illegally, was based on the argument that he had a flare gun at his disposal which he could have made use of.

On Friday December 3 the Instructor with Yamil and expressed to him that he would be released the following Monday and taken to the legal home of his mother to await the paperwork. While waiting for this to happen, Yamil remained in the same place and the official said he would be released in a week or a week and a half, saying the same thing to the consular officials of the United States Interest Section who visited my brother on December 10.

What happened is that since the beginning of the December the prosecutor had the file of the preparatory phase given to him by the Instructor and until the time there was no pronouncement, when Law 5 (Penal Procedures), in Article 262 gives a time frame for this of up to ten days. On the other hand, the attorney asked for a modification of the custody measures for Yamil and the response of the prosecutor was evasive and without foundation.

The defense was forced to submit to Record of Complaint to the Head of Criminal Procedure of the Attorney General’s Office, with 5 working days to answer, making Tuesday 25 January, the 5th and last day to issue a response.

The Prosecutor, the term implies, should guarantee the legality, however, limiting myself to this case, has been the complete opposite. To commence criminal proceedings, as was done three years ago, under an alleged crime that had no substance and to move it to the courts without objective basis, leaves a lot to be desired. But, he continues in error or perhaps pursuing an objective associated with his apocryphal mistakes, while an INNOCENT man suffer the rigors of an absurd confinement and hunger to demand respect for his rights.

Yes, Yamil is INNOCENT. The flare gun is used to signal that you are in danger and, though my brother was in a similar context, he did not feel unprotected. Despite the horrible weather and sea conditions, he had two sets of GPS equipment that allowed him to orient himself and his vessel had two outboard motors, in perfect working condition. Anyway, this gun is not a used as means to advise that one is entering an international port and his forced arrival for temporary protection (from the storm) exonerates him of any criminal liability, an issue set out in Article 22.1 and 215.2 of our Criminal Code.

The arguments for the innocence of Yamil Dominguez are overwhelming, but Cuba has to justify, before public opinion, the more than three years he has been in prison, so they have no other alternative but to charge him with illegal entry into the country.

Justice should be blind because we all have the same rights and are equal under the law. Unfortunately, many of those responsible for exercising it, remove the blindfold from their eyes and it is, at this exact moment, that they cease to be impartial and give birth to iniquity. Sufficient reasons exist for my brother to be freed. The reasons are obvious and we are confident that the truth will out; the pitcher can only go to the well so many times before it breaks.

January 24 2011

Havana, January 11, 2011

To: the Attorney General of the Republic of Cuba

Allow me to present myself, Yadaimí Domínguez Ramos, resident of Calle 4, No 119 between 1st and 3rd, Playa, City of Havana, I direct myself to you to make you aware of the situation of my brother Yamil Domínguez Ramos, as a result of your criminal process.

On 31 August 2010, the People’s Supreme Court issued sentence 120/2010, which annulled the sentence 549/2008 of the Provincial Court of the City of Havana, as a result of a review and appeal process requested by the First Vice Minister of Justice: Urbano José Pedraza Linares.

The Highest judicial organ of the Republic ordered the process returned to the preparatory phase to widen the investigation with this result: the investigation made the same statement, confirming what Yamil had stated from the very beginning. In early December the Instructor sent the Preliminary Case File No 97/2007 to the Attorney General with his conclusive report for an alleged illegal entry, and at the same time the attorney asked for a change of custody for my brother.

Up to today there has been no pronouncement on the part of the Prosecutor about this matter and what’s worse is that my brother, since December 30, has been on a hunger and thirst strike at the Security Pavilion of the Carlos J. Finley Hospital, demanding a change in his custody status until the process is complete. It is worth considering that the crime with which he is charged has a maximum sentence of three years in prison, and in this case Yamil has been in prison three years and three months in these conditions.

I request your greatest understanding. From the humane point of view, the case demands your attention, dedication and a solution as quickly as possible. Please do not allow irreparable damages to occur to a good man and a good family. With the change in custody, if the paperwork is delayed, more damage can be avoided and time to amend the injustice gained.

In the name of our whole family, and myself, we thank you in advance for your valuable time.

Yadaimí Domínguez Ramos.

January 12 2011

For injustice there is only one remedy, and it is not forgetting, but justice.

I, Inés María Ramos Nápoles, a Cuban citizen with ID car No.: 40012108557 and resident of Calle 4 No. 119 between 1st. and 3rd. Playa, City of Havana, put before you my understanding the situation of my son Yamil Ramos Domínguez, a U.S. citizen of Cuban origin, who has been on a hunger and thirst strike since December 30, 2010.

In April of last year we presented an Appeal of the Case to the Ministry of Justice and, collaterally, my son began a hunger strike demanding a review of his case. He abandoned the strike after 107 days following a report by the First Deputy Vice Minister of Justice himself, Urbano José Pedraza Linares, in which he asked for a review by the Supreme Court. Subsequently in August of the same year, the Supreme Court accepted the request, reviewed the case and the sentence (Sentence No, 120/2010) and annulled the sentence and sent the case back to the preparatory phase.

In October, the widened investigation found in Yamil’s favor and closed the report in November on the alleged illegal entry.

Since 6 December, the instructor gave the file preparation phase (EFP: 97 / 2007) to the Prosecutor, requested the change of custody as the attorney representing my son had requested, and nothing was heard from the Prosecutor on this request, up to today, there has been no conclusive report, leading to Yamil being in the position he is now in.

My son is in the Security Ward of the Military Hospital Carlos J. Finlay, where he had recuperated after a long hunger strike.

In essence, Yamil has spent three years and three months in detention, which exceeds the maximum penalty for the crime he was processed for. I hope you have the greatest understanding of this case. I am a sick person, operated on for breast cancer, with high blood pressure, and other illnesses that I must bear with the pain of my family and I and the situation of my son. It is noteworthy that in the first seven days in the hospital he received no medical attention.

After only four months of recovery he has taken this position because he was not even granted the change of custody measure allowing him to stay in the legal residence where I reside until the end of this process, and so to avoid irreparable damage.

There is no reason to justify Yamil’s staying one minute longer in the Pavilion of the Security Hospital.

I am desperate, please listen to me and to avoid greater evils.

María Inés Ramos Naples.

Signed in Havana, this 7th day of January 2011.

January 10 2011

Since December 30 Yamil has been on a hunger and thirst strike, to demand his freedom, and that they comply with what was established in the criminal procedure law, in the last correspondence. It is illegal that he is still in prison. We are presenting a writ of Habeas Corpus.