[__ Prayer __] Cuba pastor 'trafficking' trial today

[MrVersatile48]

Trial Of Cuban Pastor Set For December 4th

ASSIST News Service reports a Protestant Cuban pastor, imprisoned for four months earlier this year, will go on trial in Havana on Monday, December 4th.

Pastor Carlos Lamelas is being charged with “Human Traffickingâ€Â; however, observers believe he is being targeted for his outspoken calls for increased religious liberty in Cuba. The public prosecutor is asking that he be sentenced to nine years in prison.

This news comes from UK-based human rights group, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). A spokesperson for CSW said, “Pastor Lamelas, the former president of the Church of God denomination, a member of the Cuban Council of Churches (CCC), has stated that he and his lawyer believe he will be found innocent of the charges because of a lack of evidence on the part of the State.

However, they expressed concern that the public prosecutor is using Pastor Lamelas’s application to leave the country, which he made following his four month imprisonment, as evidence against him.

 

[MrVersatile48]

Thanks for praying - keep on:-

Cuban Prosecutor Recommends Acquittal of Church Leader

A prosecuting attorney in Havana on Monday (December 4) recommended that the Rev. Carlos Lamelas be acquitted of all charges of trafficking in illegal emigrants, Compass Direct News reports.

Those accusations had sent the evangelical pastor and former national president of his church to jail for more than four months earlier this year.

Despite the motion for acquittal, Lamelas’s future still remains in doubt. “The trial is now at the stage of determining sentence, and we must await the judges’ decision,†Lamelas said. “The worst part is that we have to keep waiting possibly for one or two months more.ÀÂ