Victim detained and tortured over the possession of beef

The victim was detained while heading home by security forces and then transferred him to a police station where he was held in a jail cell. The victim’s mother arrived at the police station wanting to know why her son was arrested. One of the police officers told her that he had killed cattle, but the mother found this strange and told the officer that her son lived near a meat plant and that there was no reason why her son would kill cattle. After hearing this, the officers directed her to William, the local police instructor. He offered to help the mother if she revealed who had given the meat to her son. Afterwards the police interrogated her insisting that she knew who was responsible for giving the meat to her son. The police then threatened to charge her son for a more serious crime if she did not give a name. They then informed her that they would search the victim's house and when they did, they failed to find any incriminating evidence. According to the victim’s mother, her son was kept in solitary confinement for 6 days where the guards deprived him of food and medicine that he needs for his diabetes, hypertension and pancreatitis. The second chief of the police station, Francisco Palacio responded by these allegations by stating that they were not a hotel and denying that the victim was deprived of any medications because they would’ve had a nurse if the victim were sick. The victim's mother felt deceived because she was told that her son would be released on bail however the prosecutor arrived and after conversing with the parties involved, it was decided that the victim would be released in a cart cage. The victim’s mother had to wait 75 days to see a lawyer even though the prosecutor told her it would be 30 days. The victim was charged with beef concealment and illegally obtaining it during a show trail. The victim was sentenced to 5 years in jail without any thorough investigation taking place or giving lawyers adequate time to prepare for the trial, which only lasted for 30 minutes. The origin of the meat was never identified. The victim’s mother claims that the trail was merely a formality because the police had already decided what the punishment was going to be. On the day of the trail, the victim was kept from 9:30 until 22:00 until he was taken to the Holguin province where he is to be imprisoned. He was kept in fast for a lengthy amount of time which made his diabetes and hypertension worse. The victim was kept in a for 6 days at the Banes police station without any precautionary measure even though the law states that any measure must be applied within 72 hours.