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Spaniard Charged with Negligent Homicide for Cuban Dissident’s Death
Cuban prosecutors are asking for seven years in prison for negligent homicide for the visiting Spaniard who was behind the wheel for the car crash that killed prominent dissident Oswaldo Paya and a colleague, sources closes to the case told Efe.
Angel Carromero, leader of a youth group in Spain’s governing Popular Party, has been in custody since the July 22 accident.
The next step could be setting a date for the court hearing, which probably will be held in the eastern city of Bayamo in late August or early September, the sources said.
The Spaniard, Swedish citizen Jens Aron Modig, Paya and fellow dissident Harold Cepero were on their way from the Cuban capital to the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba in a rented car when the accident happened.
The vehicle, with Carromero at the wheel, ran off the road and crashed near Bayamo, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of Havana.
Paya and Cepero died, while Carromero and Modig suffered relatively minor injuries.
Cuban authorities blame the accident on excessive speed and the driver’s failure to heed warning signs about road construction.
Under Cuban law, “the driver of a vehicle who, in breaking traffic laws or regulations, causes the death of a person, will be deprived of freedom from one to 10 years.”
Modig was allowed to leave Cuba on July 30, after appearing before the press in Havana, where he said he did not recall many details of the accident because he was sleeping at the time of the crash.
Meanwhile, Carromero confirmed the official version of the accident in a statement recorded during his arrest and released by Cuban authorities.
Published in Notitas de Noticias
2012-08-17 19:08:47
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