Monday, January 24, 2011

Supreme surprise

“We were the most surprised of all…I have done a lot of research and in 52 years I do not find a single case brought by civil society against a cabinet minister.”

That is the reaction of Wilfredo Vallín, head of the Asociación Jurídica Cubana, an unregistered private association, to the fact that Cuba’s supreme court accepted his case against the Minister of Justice and heard it last Friday. La Jornada’s correspondent interviewed him and explains the case here.

The issue before the court is far from momentous. Vallín wants to obtain legal status for his organization, and the first step in that process is to ask the Justice Ministry whether there exists another organization with his association’s name and purposes. He received no answer, so he filed his lawsuit.

The association seeks to provide information to the Cuban public about legal issues and to provide legal advice (but not representation) to individuals.

Vallín’s blog has several items on the case.

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