Eight Cuban asylum seekers, who were accused of illegal camping in front of the United Nations building in Port-of-Spain in December last year, have been freed.
During a hearing in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Magistrate Sanara Toon-McQuilkin dismissed the charges against the group after prosecutors were not ready to begin the trial of the case, for the third time since August.
On Thursday, Toon-McQuilkin was forced to adjourn the case as police prosecutors said they could not start leading evidence as they were still awaiting instructions from their seniors.
At the start of yesterday’s hearing, prosecutors informed Toon-McQuilkin that the position did not change.
The group’s lawyer Christophe Rodriguez immediately applied for the case to be dismissed.
As he pointed out that the maximum fine, if they are found guilty of the offence, is $200, Rodriguez said: “The costs of coming to court all these times almost exceeds the potential fine.” He also said his clients spent 19 days on remand while they were awaiting bail.
Toon-McQuilkin agreed with Rodriguez as she questioned the delay in getting approval.
Police prosecutors had previously explained that the police officers, who charged the group, took the file to the Community Policing Secretariat in February but were turned away as they were informed that approval from senior officers of the division, where the offence was alleged to have occurred, was required.
The file was resubmitted in August but has yet to receive approval.
“I don’t understand why it would take so long for that complicated process to be completed,” she said as she stated that she was shocked by the inability of the police to rectify the issue between Thursday afternoon and yesterday morning.
She noted that the police officers and their witnesses in the case had attended all hearings and were prepared to give evidence.
“It almost feels like their dedication is for nothing,” Toon-McQuilkin said.
The eight Cubans are Yaneisy Santana Hurtado, 37, Ramon Arbolaez Abreu, 43, Ailys Arbolaez Santana, 18, Yusnes Reyes Santana, 20, Gladys Lisandra Perez Molina, 22, Lisandra Farray Rodriquez, 29, Pedro Santana Maceo and 30-year-old Yuriet Pedrozo Gonzales.
The eight were part of a larger group of 18 Cubans, including three children, who decided to camp outside the UN Office at Chancery Lane in Port-of-Spain as they bid for resettlement in the United States as political refugees was being considered.
They claimed that they fled Cuba in 2016 as they were persecuted by that country’s communist regime for a series of pacifist protests.