3 Dissidents Sentenced After One-Day Trial

Cuba held its third trial of dissidents in less than a month, sentencing three people who participated in a human rights meeting to three years in prison, a local human rights group said.

The trials marked a new push by the government to quell dissent after a much larger crackdown last year, in which 75 government opponents were arrested and sentenced to six to 28 years in prison.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Raul Arencibia Fajardo and Virgilio Marante Guelmes were convicted Tuesday in a one-day trial of contempt for authority, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, said Elizardo Sanchez, head of the independent Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.