Human rights officials say Ferrer was arrested for a common
crime that officials usually overlook — or punish with a simple fine — in an
attempt to silence his criticism of the government.
Ferrer's trial was closed to the media and most of the
public, but his wife, Yusnaimy Jorge Soca, said he was found guilty of buying
black-market building materials and then ordered released. He is supposed to
serve the roughly four months remaining on his 15-month sentence at the
couple's Havana home.
"I think what happened inside was the fair outcome.
It's what we've waited for since the beginning," Jorge told reporters
outside the courthouse in the Cuban capital's 10 de Octubre district. "We
only wanted to repair our home."
Ferrer was taken to a police station for processing then
driven home, saying: "I'm going to enjoy this with my friends and
family." From his Havana home, Ferrer said he was not giving up his
activism for political change.
"I'm committed to freedom for the Cuban public,"
he said. "Given the desperate situation, I'm going to keep pressing to win
reforms." About 30 relatives and supporters, many of them self-described
dissidents, gathered outside the courthouse for Tuesday's proceedings,
occasionally shouting "Liberty!" and anti-government slogans.
Diplomats from the United States, Britain and a few other
nations stood in the shade of nearby trees, but they made no comment and left
before the verdict. Cuban state security agents in plain clothes watched from
surrounding street corners.
A physician, Ferrer is among Cuba's most prominent
dissidents. Like most of those, however, he is better known abroad than in his
own country, where the state-run media almost never mention him.
In years past, he organized tiny street demonstrations to
mark International Human Rights Day in December, but he had been in prison
since July 21, 2009.
Ferrer said he felt sad for the country's remaining
political prisoners. He described his stint in jail as a way to "justify
punishment by state security."
The government controls nearly all construction under Cuba's
communist system and many people turn to private sources for quicker repairs.
Cement and dozens of other building materials supplied that way are often
pilfered from state stocks.
Ferrer and his wife said they obtained the cement to repair a
collapsing wall in their home, and didn't expect it to become a political
issue.
Ferrer's release after months in detention could add to
signs Cuba's government is softening its stance toward organized dissent.
The government of President Raul Castro recently promised
Roman Catholic Church leaders to move political prisoners to facilities closer
to home and to give better access to medical care for inmates who need it.
So far, 12 prisoners have been transferred and one, Ariel
Sigler, was released for health reasons. Sigler was a boxer when he entered
prison seven years ago, but now must use a wheelchair.
He was one of 75 leading community organizers, opposition
activists and independent journalists arrested in March 2003 during a crackdown
on dissent. They were charged with conspiring with Washington to destabilize
Cuba's government — charges both those arrested and US authorities denied.
Elizardo Sanchez, head of the independent, Havana-based
National Commission on Human Rights and Reconciliation, says Cuba holds 180
political prisoners, a list that had included Ferrer.
Cuban officials say they hold no political prisoners and
have the right to jail traitors.
