Cuban Ex-Judge Faces First Asylum Hearing in the US
Melody González Pedraza to demonstrate her case for political asylum at a master hearing set for July 31.
By cubanet.org
Former Cuban judge Melody González Pedraza, who previously served as the President of the Municipal Popular Court in Encrucijada, Villa Clara, faced her first judicial hearing in the United States after requesting political asylum at Tampa International Airport. During this initial hearing, she was instructed to attend a master hearing on July 31 at 1:00 PM to present her case for asylum before Judge Barry S. Chait.
The attorney, Santiago Alpízar, director of the NGO Cuba Demanda, which promotes Cuba’s transition to democracy, stated that González Pedraza would need to showcase the merits for her asylum claim at the upcoming hearing. Alpízar expressed skepticism about her qualifications for political asylum but assured that she would have access to due process and legal representation. The case’s resolution might take several months, with a possible decision around mid-November.
González Pedraza arrived in the US under the Biden Administration’s humanitarian parole program but was denied entry due to her alleged repressive actions in Cuba. She was then transferred to the Broward Transitional Center.
González Pedraza is known for having sentenced four young individuals, all under 30, to three to four years in prison for throwing molotov cocktails at police and state security officials’ properties in Encrucijada on November 18, 2022. These sentences resulted from what some claim were fabricated charges, linked to their participation in the widespread anti-government protests in July 2021.
Victims and family members of those she sentenced have spoken out against her receiving asylum. Uziel García, one such victim, shared his experience of being sentenced by González Pedraza to two years in prison for peacefully protesting on July 11. Dunia Marisol Rodríguez Milián, the mother of one of the imprisoned youths, criticized González Pedraza for leading a rigged trial against her son, during which the judge failed to produce any evidence to substantiate the charges.
Read the full article in English on cubanet.org, using Google Translate.