Former political prisoner arrested for 5 days and after his release beaten up

José Díaz Silva, head of the Opposition Movement for a New Republic and national delegate of the Democracy Movement, was kept detained for about 5 days due to an accusation of a threat against his neighbour, Danay Castro, who worked in the State Council. Díaz Silva was arrested on the street on Sunday, 17 May, and driven to the police station in Santiago de Las Vegas. The day before, Díaz Silva had expelled his neighbour Danay Castro and her son from his property. They broke into and were stealing products cultivated by Silva's family. This happened already for the fourth time when Danay Castro was caught stealing at his property. According to the Cuban Penal Code, it is considered a crime and should be punished. When the police investigated the case, all the neighbours spoke out in favor of José Silva. Eventually, he was released on Friday, 22 May. He was told to sign a release protocol and he was verbally rebuked. On the next day after his release, he was beaten up, detained and fined based on Law no. 370.