Detention and confiscation of properties of Niober García Fournier after coming back from abroad



Niober García Fournier was returning from abroad where he participated in a training. On the way from Havana, he was taken off the bus by the officers of the state security and several policeman. He was detained and taken to the detention center, where they searched his luggage and they confiscated all his money, 4 cell phones, two USB speakers, 20 USB memories of 32 GB, 8 microcards of 64GB, 2 headphones, one mouse, and three books. He was not given any record of confiscation. After more than seven hours and after being threatened with "not going out and protest on the streets," he was released. The the independent journalist Niober García Fournier allong with human rights observer Arturo Feliciano Acosta Guillén was taken off the bus traveling from Havana to Guantánamo and taken to Guantanamo Operations Center by order of the Captain Brayan (or Morgan) of the political police. The bus was searched by the authorities which proceeded to detain the two human rights defenders, take off all their luggage and handcuff Niober. At the Center of Detention and Research, they were separated. They searched his luggage and they confiscated all his money, 4 cell phones, two USB speakers, 20 USB memories of 32 GB, 8 microcards of 64GB, 2 headphones, one mouse, and three books. He was not given any record of confiscation. All these gadgets remained in the hands of the military. Arturo declares "They were waiting for us, I was threatened with being taken to prison if they realize that we (referring to the group who traveled abroad) form part of a spy network." We found out that Henry Couto Guzmán, an activist of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), suffered the same, traveling in another bus, but we could not contact him. Niober made a complaint at the Municipal People's Court of Guantánamo that answered him after more that one year justifying the acts of police (can be seen below the text in Spanish).


Rights Abused

Civil and Political Rights
Personal freedom
Right not to be submitted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
Right to freedom of movement and transit
Right not to be arbitrarily detained
Economic and Social Rights
Right to property
Perpetrator
Police
State security agents
Collaborators
UTGF/1