Adolfo Fernández Saínz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Juan Adolfo Fernández Saínz (born November 30, 1948 in San Luis , Pinar del Río Province , Cuba ) is a Cuban journalist and dissident who was imprisoned from 2003 to 2010 for comments critical of the government. The condition for his release was his immediate departure to Spain, which took place one day later.

Activity before imprisonment

Adolfo Fernández Saínz worked as a translator for government institutions. He also worked for the unofficial press agency "Patria" in Havana . In particular, he expressed himself critical of the Fidel Castro government and campaigned for the democratization of Cuba.

arrest

On March 18, 2003, Juan Adolfo Fernández Saínz was arrested as part of the largest wave of arrests ( Black Spring ) in Cuba since the beginning of the 1959 revolution. In a quick trial, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The basis of the judgment was Act 88 (Art 6.1) to secure Cuba's national independence and economy. Numerous items were seized as evidence during a house search on the day of his arrest, including an electric typewriter, editions of the party newspaper Granma with text passages underlined by Fernández Saínz, and indexed books such as the novels Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell .

Conditions of detention

According to his family, Adolfo Fernández Saínz did not receive adequate medical care and suffered from a kidney cyst , prostate disease , herniated disc and arthritis, among other things .

In addition, access to Christian literature was made very difficult for practicing Christians.

His family members were only allowed to visit him individually. Being 800 kilometers from his hometown Havana meant that his family incurred substantial travel expenses every time. Visiting appointments were nevertheless suspended or postponed at short notice.

Campaigns for release

Since 2006, Amnesty International has been running a large-scale campaign to free Adolfo Fernández Saínz. In addition, the international journalist protection organizations Reporters Without Borders and Committee to Protect Journalists campaigned for him, as did the Inter-American Press Association IAPA. The PEN International Authors' Association's Committee for Imprisoned Writers and several of the Association's national centers campaigned for his release - PEN England made him an honorary member. Highly acclaimed international media reported on his case. From Cuba, his wife Julia Núñez and other wives and mothers of the Damas de Blanco (Women in White) group, which was imprisoned in 2003, fought for the freedom of the journalist and his fellow political prisoners despite various reprisals from the Cuban government apparatus. Journalists who were friends in Cuba, who continued to report despite hostility, also recalled his imprisonment in their reports, including the internationally known blogger Yoani Sánchez , with whom and with her husband Fernández Saínz was friends.

Release and departure

Fernández Saínz's release on August 19, 2010 was the result of negotiations between the Cuban government and representatives of the Catholic Church and the Spanish government in the spring of 2010, which began after the internationally acclaimed death of the political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo . In the same context, the release of the remaining 51 political prisoners from the group of 75 civil rights activists, librarians and journalists sentenced in spring 2003 was also agreed. Fernández Saínz was one of those prisoners who agreed to leave the country immediately accompanied by their family members and went into exile in Spain from July 2010. The release of 13 fellow prisoners who were not ready to leave their country was delayed by several months despite multiple announcements. Only on March 23, 2011, José Daniel Ferrer and Félix Navarro, the last of the “Group of 75” (“licencia extrapenal”) were released from custody.

Fernández Saínz arrived in Madrid on August 20, 2010, accompanied by his wife and a brother-in-law. In November 2010 the couple moved from Spain to Miami, where their daughter has lived since 2007.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Amnesty International page on Juan Adolfo Fernández Saínz
  2. ↑ a b Carlos Lauria et al .: Cuba's Long Black Spring, on the CPJ website of March 18, 2008, accessed on March 26, 2015 (English)
  3. ↑ Inter American Press Association: Imprisoned journalist Adolfo Fernández Sainz's health deteriorates, in: IFEX of August 24, 2007, accessed on March 26, 2015 (English)
  4. ^ Joan Smith: Writers in prison - The other side of paradise, in: New Statesman, January 12, 2004, accessed March 26, 2015
  5. ↑ Adolfo Fernández Saínz (Cuba), ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Campaign website of the Catalan PEN center, accessed on March 26, 2015 (Catalan)
  6. ↑ Honorary Member Adolfo Fernández Saínz, on the PEN England website on February 12, 2009, accessed on March 26, 2015 (English)
  7. ^ Adolfo Fernández Sainz au plus mal, in: Liberation of March 23, 2005, accessed on March 26, 2015 (French)
  8. ↑ Yoani Sánchez: Una silla vacía, in the Generación Y blog of December 24, 2007, accessed via 14ymedio.com on March 26, 2015 (Spanish)
  9. ↑ Der Standard (November 14, 2010): Dissident released despite refusal to exile
  10. ↑ Cuba: Last two political prisoners of the "Group of 75" released, ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.igfm.de archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. News from the International Society for Human Rights dated March 24, 2011, accessed on March 26, 2015
  11. ↑ Llega a Madrid el último de los 6 nuevos presos políticos liberados por Cuba, in: El Mundo of August 20, 2010, accessed on March 26, 2015 (Spanish)
  12. ↑ Boletín del 17 de noviembre de 2010 de las 10:15 PM (video, 5 minutes), TV report by TV Martí from November 17, 2010, accessed on YouTube on March 26, 2015 (Spanish)
  13. ↑ Joseph Contreras: Fidel's Children, in: Newsweek of March 3, 2008 (English)
personal data
SURNAME Fernández Saínz, Adolfo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fernández Saínz, Juan Adolfo (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban journalist and dissident
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH San Luis