Cuban courts impose stiff sentences against protesters

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ
Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) — Cuban courts have handed out sentences of up to 20 years in prison to a group of people accused of taking part in protests that swept across the island in July. The 20 defendants sentenced in the eastern province of Holguin were convicted after trials last month on charges of sedition. Relatives reported the sentences on Tuesday. Hundreds of other people await verdicts following trials elsewhere. Thousands of people took to the streets in cities across Cuba on July 11 and 12 — many frustrated with shortages, low salaries and power outages, as well as with the socialist government.