Interim Report - Report No 64, 1962

Case No 253 (Cuba) - Complaint date: 10-FEB-61 - Closed

1. 6. This case was examined by the Committee at its 29th Session (November 1961), when the Committee submitted to the Governing Body the conclusions contained in paragraphs 622 to 644 of its 58th Report, approved by the Governing Body at its 150th Session (November 1961).

7. The allegations, analysed more fully in paragraph 625 of the Committee's 58th Report, relate especially to the shooting in January 1961 of three Cuban workers, Messrs. William Lesanté Naser, Julio Casielles Amigó and Orilio Luis Méndez Pérez, who had been accused of acts of sabotage. In this connection the Governing Body decided, on the recommendation of the Committee:

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2. to request the Government, in accordance with the practice always followed in cases in which allegations as to sentences passed on trade unionists have been met with statements that such sentences were passed because of subversive activities or common law crimes, to indicate, in order to enable the Committee to reach a conclusion as to how far any question of freedom of association was involved, whether the appropriate and responsible court by which the sentences of death in the case of Messrs. Lesanté Naser, Casielles Amigó and Méndez Pérez were pronounced was an ordinary court of law, and, if not, to give particulars as to its nature and procedure and to request the Government to furnish the text of the judgment given.
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4. 8. This request for further information was brought to the notice of the Government of Cuba by a letter dated 28 November 1961, to which the attention of the Government was again drawn by a letter dated 16 January 1962.
5. 9. As no reply was received from the Government, the Committee, at its 30th Session (February 1962), adjourned its examination of the case until its present session.
6. 10. The Government was informed of this decision by a letter dated 15 March 1962, in which it was requested to furnish the information in question as early as possible, and not later than 15 April 1962. A further letter of reminder was sent to the Government on 18 April 1962. No reply has been received from the Government.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 11. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body to request the Government of Cuba to furnish as a matter of urgency the information requested in paragraph 644 (g) of the 58th Report of the Committee cited in paragraph 7 above.