SPAIN/FILE: The family of Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya files a lawsuit in Spain's High Court over the car accident that killed Paya last year

Record ID: 858736

  • Title: SPAIN/FILE: The family of Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya files a lawsuit in Spain's High Court over the car accident that killed Paya last year
  • Date: 20th August 2013
  • Summary: OSWALDO PAYA'S PHOTOS
  • Embargoed: 4th September 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba
  • City:
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADZ3PW7LRMBCAWIXEE015MN3T0
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  • Story Text: The brother of late Cuban dissident, Oswaldo Paya, who died in a car crash on the island last year said on Tuesday (August 20) his family had filed a lawsuit in Spain against two Cuban army officials they say were linked to his death.
    Some of Paya's relatives, including his brother, Carlos Paya, have alleged that Cuban government agents ran the car off the road, though Spaniard Angel Carromero, who was driving the car, was convicted by a Cuban court last year of reckless driving in the accident.

    "Before we knew the magnitude, the consequences and the actual deaths, the first information already said this had not been an accident. It was through a text message sent from Aaron Modig's (Swedish politician who was in the car with Paya) mobile phone to Sweden and we were informed from Sweden. The text message didn't say "we had an accident" or "we had a crash" or "we ran off the road". It said that a car had run their car off the road," Carlos Paya, told Reuters in an interview.
    Paya, one of the most important leaders of Cuba's small opposition community, had Spanish nationality, meaning Spanish authorities can investigate his death even though it was abroad.

    "First of all, we want an investigation and we want to know the truth. On the other hand, this is a warning for the Cuban regime to cease impunity. To probe that this wasn't an accident but it was a caused death has to help stop the impunity of the regime and its practices of being permanently harassing, attacking, imprisoning, hitting its opponents," Paya's brother explained.
    Paya's wife, Ofelia Acevedo Maura, and daughter, Rosa Maria Paya Acevedo, said they had filed the lawsuit at Spain's High Court, and a copy of the document was seen by Reuters. It was not clear what roles they allege the army officials played in the 60-year-old dissident's death.
    Carlos Paya has lived in Spain for 26 years working with the Christian Liberation Movement from Madrid in an effort to promote democracy in Cuba.
    Asked about a possible reaction by the Cuban government to the lawsuit he said:
    "If you talk to me about repression, detention, coup plotters, threats - that's what what was happening before they killed Oswaldo, after they killed him, before the complaint, after the complaint - the regime does not need a reason to act as it does."
    Cuban government officials were not immediately available to comment but have said Paya died in an accident which was caused by reckless driving.
    Once the court authorities receive a lawsuit, they must discuss with the public prosecutor's office whether to open initial proceedings. The decision in this case would not be expected before September.
    If the court decides to proceed, it would automatically trigger an investigation into Paya's death by a Spanish judge.
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