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CUBAN PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE, DR. OSCAR E.
BISCET, IS TRANSFERRED TO ANOTHER MAXIMUM
SECURITY PRISON AND PUNISHED IN A "DUNGEON"
WITH A DANGEROUS CRIMINAL
November 19, 2003
Cuban prisoner of conscience, Dr. Oscar E.
Biscet Gonzalez, serving a 25 year prison
sentence, was transferred on November 12,
2003 from Kilo Cinco y Medio Prison to
another maximum security prison in the
province of Pinar del Rio called Kilo 8,
where he is confined in a punishment cell he
referred to as a "dungeon", with a prisoner
who has committed 12 criminal assaults.
On November 11th, at Prison Kilo Cinco y
Medio, Dr. Biscet had peacefully protested
with six other prisoners of conscience, the
cruel treatment given by prison authorities
to the family of another fellow prisoner,
Juan Enrique Ferrer García, during their
scheduled visit. A prison official stated
that Dr. Biscet had to be transferred
because other prisoners saw him as a leader.
Elsa Morejon, Nivaldo Biscet and Hilda
Gonzalez, wife and parents of the imprisoned
physician traveled 150 kms. west of Havana
to Prison Kilo 8 on Monday, November 17, to
see Dr. Biscet on the assigned family visit.
But prison authorities informed them that
Dr. Biscet was punished for 21 days without
family visits, food supplies or toiletries,
writing or reading materials, in a cell with
no sunlight. Upon hearing the news, Hilda
González, 65 years old, had to be assisted
and given medication by the prison staff due
to a sudden rise in her blood pressure.
Compelled by circumstances and the
persistence of Elsa Morejon, wife of Dr.
Biscet, prison authorities allowed Hilda
Gonzalez to see her son for only 10 minutes.
Dr. Biscet asked his mother to alert
international public opinion since he had
broken no prison rule and sharing a cell
with a criminal placed his life in danger.
Excerpts from a note Dr. Biscet addressed to
his wife:
"I'm in a punishment cell because I did
not accept to be locked up with a man
condemned to life imprisonment, an assassin
who killed an elderly person. I'm well
though unable to see the sky, always in
darkness, confined with a man who has
committed 12 criminal assaults."
"I don't know why I'm in this dismal place…I
will not grieve nor be afraid for being
punished in this dungeon… I will face life's
difficulties in order to enjoy the
germination of love. I know I will succeed
…the darker the place, the brighter and more
intense the light."
Dr. Biscet previously served 3 years in
prison and was released October 31, 2002,
only to be re-arrested on December 6, 2002
as he was to meet with human rights
activists. On April 7, 2003 he was tried
summarily during a Cuban government
crackdown, along with 75 other activists and
independent journalists and was sentenced to
25 years for "serving as a mercenary to a
foreign state."
Dr. Biscet, a 42 year old black physician,
follower of Ghandi and Martin Luther King,
has been wearing only his underwear as he
deems it unacceptable to wear a common
prisoner's uniform because he considers
himself innocent of the charges for which he
was sentenced.
Elsa Morejon urgently appeals to heads of
states, leaders of political, civic,
religious and professional organizations,
the press, and all men and women of good
will worldwide to demand before the Cuban
government the unconditional and immediate
freedom of Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and all
those prisoners whose only crime is to honor
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in
their own country.
Testimony by Elsa Morejon provided via
telephone from Cuba. Recorded, transcribed
and translated. Coalition of Cuban-American
Women/ LAIDA CARRO Email: Joseito76@aol.com
Elsa Morejon Hernandez / Address: Acosta 464
entre 8va y 9na, Lawton, Municipio 10 de
Octubre, La Habana, Cuba.
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