• Submitted by: manso
• Politics and Government
• 05 / 05 / 2011

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Official note published Thursday in Granma and translated by Cuban Colada: The Provincial People's Tribunal of Havana sentenced Alejandro Francisco Roca Iglesias, former Minister of the Food Industry, to 15 years' deprivation of freedom, upon declaring him the author of the crimes of continued bribery and acts detrimental to the economic activity or contracting.

In the same trial, sentence was passed in absentia – because he did not appear for the judicial process after previous summonses and a warrant – upon Chilean entrepreneur Joel Max Marambio Rodríguez, whom the tribunal sentenced to 20 years'

deprivation of freedom for the crimes of bribery, fraud and falsification of bank or commerce documents, all of a continuing nature.

The tribunal, after evaluating the numerous evidence presented during the trial, deemed that the deeds imputed by the Prosecutor's Office were duly proven and considered that the crimes committed were particularly grave and require a firm penal response, consistent with the substantial damage caused by both defendants to the national economy and to the debasement both men caused upon the ethical behavior of several functionaries and subordinate workers.

The court's decision may be challenged by the defendants through a cassation appeal submitted to the People's Supreme Court within 10 days after issuance.

Source: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2011/05/