HAVANA TIMES – Cuban Walnier Luis Aguilar Rivera was charged with sedition at just 21 years old, after he took part in protests in July 2021 in the Güinera neighborhood, belonging to the Arroyo Naranjo municipality in Havana.
He was arrested on July 20th that year, and his enforced disappearance by law enforcement agencies lasted a week. He was locked up with common prisoners, and his family was denied immediate access. Furthermore, Walnier was deprived of the medicine he needs, as well as legal assistance.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office had initially asked for a 23-year sentence, without taking into account the young man’s mental disorder as a result of a head injury. After an appeal, the sentence was reduced to 12 years in prison.
The Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH) revealed that during the investigation phase of the trial, the authorities denied him a medical/ forensic psychological test that could have reduced his sentence.
Walnier Luis’ medical history features the special psychological treatment he’s been receiving ever since he was a child. Specialists from the Diagnosis and Guidance Center in Arroyo Naranjo verified in 2014 that he was a child with special needs, with an intellectual disability (mildly intellectually and developmentally disabled, multifactorial condition, learning and behavioral disorder).
Walnier Luis didn’t join the Active Military Service (SMA) because of his condition. The Military Recruitment Committee in Havana, that has a medical/forensic team including psychologists, decided on his exemption from SMA because of “bordering intellectual functioning” and “being non-apt” to take on natural or everyday tasks.
Repression in prison and harassment of his family
In November 2022, his father, Luis Wilber Aguilar Bravo, complained that prison officers were violent towards his son and other prisoners, but these attacks remained unpunished under the Cuban Government’s protection. The attack against Walnier took place in the afternoon of October 8, 2022, at the Combinado del Este prison in Havana.
“This is what Lieutenant Escalante does, he’s a torturer. He took one person, who was handcuffed just like my son, and hit him in the head with a baton, cracking it open; and he slapped another one. My son was handcuffed and sprayed, then they threw him down the stairs. This is the truth, the one you don’t want to investigate,” said the father.
According to his account, Walnier Luis asked Lieutenant Escalante for the first-aid kit and to be taken to the doctor for his headaches, but the Lieutenant ordered him to strip naked. The father said that he went to the National Directorate for Prisons at the Ministry of Interior on 15th and K Streets to talk to superiors, who told him that prisoners are only forced to strip naked w
