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Mrs.MICHELLE BACHELET High Commissioner for Human Rights. United Nations Geneva, Switzerland [email protected], [email protected] Subject: Oswaldo Payá case I have the honor of addressing you, first of all to congratulate and wish you the greatest success in defending the Human Rights of the citizens of the world, and I also present the case of my brother Oswaldo Payá. My brother Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas, was one of the most important political leaders of Cuba in recent years, founder of the well-known Project Varela and the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) with the Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament and nominated for the Nobel Prize of the Peace. The activism of my brother Oswaldo Payá was always framed in the Defense of Human Rights, Democracy and dialogue as instruments to improve the living conditions of the Cuban people, in such activities in the alleged exercise of their Civil Rights, he assumed critical positions to the Cuban government, which generated persecutions and threats of various kinds, and unfortunately died (as did Harold Cepero, a young MCL activist) in circumstances not yet clarified on July 22, 2012 in the province of Granma (Cuba) allegedly as a result of a “car accident,” according to public information from the authorities of the State of Cuba. None of the members of our family have had access to the file made by police and judicial authorities related to the death of Oswaldo. We do not know the real cause of his death according to the content of the forensic autopsy protocol, the details of the event site and other evidence collected and analyzed during the criminal process, or if other cars intervened during the event. During the development of the process, the family was not allowed to attend the hearings of the trial, nor to incorporate the evidence that we have to clarify the facts, and even less, to have the intervention of legal advisers and forensic experts that represent the rights and family interests as indirect victims. Such restrictions generate serious doubts regarding the objectivity and impartiality of the authorities involved in the case. Such opacity has been the mechanism of injustice. Our right to due process has been violated and consequently our right to the truth. Time has elapsed and we have to live with the fixed idea of the various existing hypotheses of the cause of Oswaldo's death and the inconsistencies and contradictions of the official version. I beg you, honorable High Commissioner, to intercede with the State of Cuba to ensure that the family can access the procedural records, evidence of the case and, in the same way, conduct a transparent, objective and impartial investigation of the facts and circumstances, involving international experts and experts appointed by the family. This would be the only way to get to the truth through suitable and reliable legal channels. Sincerely, CARLOS PAYÁ SARDIÑAS