Dr Juan Escalona Reguera
Attorney-General
Fiscal General de la República,
Fiscalía General de la República
San Rafael 3
La Habana
Cuba

16 February 2007

Dear Attorney-General,

We are writing on behalf of the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association in connection with the alleged intimidation and harassment of the human rights lawyer, Mr Juan Carlos González Leiva, President of the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights.  

In its role as a dual membership organisation, comprising 30,000 individual lawyers and over 195 Bar Associations and Law Societies, the International Bar Association (IBA) influences the development of international law reform and shapes the future of the legal profession. Its Member Organisations cover all continents. The IBA’s Human Rights Institute works across the association, helping to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law, and to preserve the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession worldwide.

We have received information indicating that Cuban authorities have threatened Mr González Leiva with imprisonment if he does not put an end to his human rights activities or leave Cuba. Mr González Leiva is alleged to have been threatened, harassed and detained as a direct consequence of his human rights activities and professional duties as a lawyer.

It has been reported that Mr González Leiva and seven other human rights defenders were arrested and beaten in March, 2002, while visiting a colleague in hospital; the incident is believed to be linked to the work of the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights. On being confronted by state officials, Mr González Leiva purports to have chanted ‘long live human rights’ at which point he was arrested and detained for 26 months before being sentenced to four years of house arrest on charges of public disorder, disobedience, disrespect for authority and resisting arrest. Allegedly, Mr González Leiva is now kept under close surveillance by the Cuban authorities and routinely harassed by groups of civilians who are believed to be acting under the authority of the Cuban Government. Mr González Leiva has also expressed concern that he has been a frequent victim of arbitrary acts of violence; that members of his family are subject to intimidation; and that his telephone is repeatedly cut off and, on a number of occasions, appears to have been tapped.

Under the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1998, to which Cuba is party, the continued persecution of Mr Gonzalez Leiva represents a violation of international customary law, particularly with regard to his right to freedom of expression and association. Article 12 of the Declaration upholds that ‘everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to participate in peaceful activities against violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms’. Furthermore, the Declaration upholds the State's responsibility to protect human rights defenders, maintaining that all necessary measures must be taken to ensure protection ‘by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration’.

The IBA is deeply concerned by the ongoing intimidation and harassment of Mr González Leiva and the fact that this appears to be linked to his work as a lawyer and human rights defender in Cuba.

The facts of this case raise a number of concerns in connection with the rights that should be accorded all citizens of Cuba. Under Article 4 of the American Declaration of Human Rights, endorsed by Cuba in 1948, every person has the right to freedom of investigation, opinion and the expression and dissemination of ideas by any medium whatsoever. Furthermore, Article 4 upholds that every person has the right to the protection of the law against abusive attacks upon his honor, his reputation and his private and family life; and Article 8 provides that every person has the right to fix his residence within the territory of the state of which he is a national, to move about freely within such territory, and not to leave it except by his own will.

We would also like to refer your Government to Articles 7, 11, 13 and 16 of the American Convention on Human Rights which upholds the right to liberty and security of person; the right to privacy; the right to freedom of thought and expression; and the right to free association. These rights and freedoms are also protected by Articles 9, 17, 19 and 22 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights; and Articles 3, 9, 12 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; which are widely accepted principles of customary international law.

We would further like to draw your attention to the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, in particular Article 16 which provides that governments shall ensure that lawyers are (a) able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference; (b) able to travel and to consult with their clients freely both within their own country and abroad; and (c) shall not suffer, or be threatened with, prosecution or administrative, economic or other sanctions for any action taken in accordance with recognised professional duties, standards and ethics. Article 17 states that where the security of lawyers is threatened as a result of discharging their functions, they shall be adequately safeguarded by the authorities; Article 18 provides that lawyers shall not be identified with their clients or their clients' causes as a result of discharging their functions; and Article 23 states that lawyers, like other citizens, are entitled to freedom of expression, belief, association and assembly.

We urge your Government to take the necessary steps to guarantee that the rights and freedoms of all lawyers and human rights defenders are respected in accordance with international human rights standards. We also request an immediate end to the campaign of intimidation and harassment against Mr González Leiva and would be grateful to receive your assurances that our concerns will be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Yours sincerely,

Ambassador Emilio Càrdenas                        
Justice Richard J Goldstone
Human Rights Institute Council Co-Chairs  

CC:      His Excellency Raul Castro Ruz, Acting President;
            General Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, Interior Secretary;