Cuba jails Spaniard for crash that killed dissident

A Cuban judge sentenced Spanish driver Angel Carromero to four years in prison on Monday for involuntary homicide over the July car crash that killed leading Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya. Prosecutors were seeking seven years in jail for Carromero. Paya's family has called for an international investigation, suggesting the involvement of Cuba's Communist government. "After considerable evidence was reviewed and due process observed, given the seriousness of the events, which led to the deaths of two people due to imprudent driving by Carromero, the court has imposed a sentence of four years imprisonment," a statement published on the government website Cubadebate said. The decision by a court in Granma province can be appealed, both by the convicted party and prosecutors, the statement added. Another Cuban dissident Harold Cepero, 31, also died in the crash. Carromero, 26, who is the leader of the youth wing of Spain's ruling Popular Party, and Swedish activist Jens Aron Modig, 27, survived when the car slammed into a tree. They were supporters of Cuba's pro-democracy activists, seen by the Cuban government as traitors. Paya's daughter Rosa Maria Paya, and her brothers Osvaldo and Reinaldo are seeking an international investigation into the death of their father. Paya had won the European Parliament's top human rights award, the Sakharov prize, in 2002 for opposing the Americas' only one-party Communist regime. Cuban authorities have said the Spaniard was behind the wheel and driving above the speed limit when his rental car hit an unpaved section of road outside Bayamo, causing him to lose control of the vehicle and crash into the tree, claiming the life of one of the government's leading foes. President Raul Castro's government has drawn intense criticism from dissidents about the high-profile Paya case. Paya, 60, was better known outside Cuba than at home but he had gained international recognition for his defiance over the Varela Project. Under the scheme he gathered thousands of signatures asking the Americas' only Communist government to open up from within by changing its constitution and laws. The Cuban government, however, dismissed his drive for reforms.