{"id":29912,"date":"2025-01-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/pastor-lorenzo-rosales-fajardo-released-from-prison-6411\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:12:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:12:47","slug":"pastor-lorenzo-rosales-fajardo-released-from-prison-6411","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/press\/pastor-lorenzo-rosales-fajardo-released-from-prison-6411\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo released from prison"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Cuban Protestant pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo was released from Mar Verde prison on 17 January as part of a mass amnesty following the United States\u2019 announcement that it would remove Cuba from its list of <a href=\"https:\/\/2009-2017.state.gov\/j\/ct\/list\/c14151.htm\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">state sponsors of terrorism<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pastor Rosales Fajardo was one of 553 political prisoners chosen to be released as a gesture of goodwill. Earlier this week, the Afro-Cuban Yoruba religious leader, Donaida P\u00e9rez Paseiro was released from prison. Her husband, also a Yoruba leader, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/2023\/03\/31\/%e6%8c%89\/5977\/article.htm\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Loreto Hern\u00e1ndez Garc\u00eda<\/a> has not been freed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pastor Rosales Fajardo was violently\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/2021\/8\/3\/%e6%8c%89\/5363\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">arrested<\/a> along with hundreds of others\u202fafter participating in peaceful protests that took place across Cuba on 11 July 2021. He was eventually tried and convicted of false charges of \u2018disrespect\u2019, \u2018assault\u2019, \u2018criminal incitement\u2019 and \u2018public disorder\u2019 on 20 and 21 December 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In May 2022 he and his family were informed that he had been\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/2022\/05\/05\/%e6%8c%89\/5691\/article.htm\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sentenced<\/a>\u202fto seven years in prison, which was one year less than the eight-year sentence that was initially\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/2022\/04\/07\/%e6%8c%89\/5673\/article.htm\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">communicated<\/a>\u202fin a document sent from the Permanent Mission of Cuba in Geneva to the United Nations (UN). He was initially held in Boniato Maximum Security Prison, but in early 2023 his family reported that he had been moved to a minimum-security prison closer to their home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In February 2024 the UN\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/special-procedures\/wg-arbitrary-detention\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Working Group on Arbitrary Detention<\/a>\u202fadopted the\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/issues\/detention-wg\/opinions\/session98\/a-hcr-wgad-73-2023-cuba-aev.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">opinion<\/a>\u202fthat Pastor Rosales Fajardo\u2019s detention was arbitrary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CSW\u2019s Director of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said: <b><i>\u2018CSW welcomes the release of Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo and of Donaida P\u00e9rez Paseiro, neither of whom should ever have spent a day in detention in the first place. They have endured abusive treatment and been forcibly separated from their spouses and children since July 2021. We call on the Cuban government to immediately release Loreto Hern\u00e1ndez Garc\u00eda, and to ensure that Pastor Rosales Fajardo and all political prisoners and their families are free to enjoy their freedom without any further harassment.\u2019<\/i><\/b><b><i><\/i><\/b><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cuban Protestant pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo was released from Mar Verde prison on 17 January as part of a mass amnesty.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":44048,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[140,137],"class_list":["post-29912","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-cuba","regions-latin-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40497,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29912\/revisions\/40497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29912"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=29912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}