THE VERDICT IS IN!
September 20th, 2016:
From www.aamulehti.fi:
Five volleyball players from the Cuban national team were found guilty on Tuesday of aggravated rape while they were in the country in July for a World League tournament prior to the Rio Olympics.
Finnish district court charged six men with the crime, which took place in the city of Tampere, at the hotel Ilves where the team was staying.
The court sentenced four of the men, Abraham Alfonso Gavilan (born 1995), Ricardo Noberto Calvo Manzano (b. 1996), Rolando Cepeda Abreu (b. 1989) and Osmany Santiago Uriarte Mestre (b. 1995), to five years in prison, and the fifth, Luis Tomas Sosa Sierra (b. 1995), to three and a half years.
One, Dariel Albo Miranda (s. 1992), was found not guilty and he was released earlier.
The court estimated the crime was aggravated because several men were involved and the act was particularly humiliating the victim.
All the men denied the charge.
September 13th, 2016:
Cuba has been excluded in next year’s FIVB World League. There is no exact reason on the exclusion but we wonder if it has something to do with the case.
August 29th, 2016:
Six Cuban volleyball players arrived at Pirkanmaa District Court in Tampere, Monday, where they have to stand trial for charges of aggrevated rape during a tournament in Finland earlier this year.
August 17th, 2016:
According to huffingtonpost.com:
Six volleyball players from the Cuban national team have been charged with aggravated rape in Finland, regional prosecutors said in a statement on Tuesday.
The suspected rape occurred in July in the city of Tampere, at the hotel where the team was staying. The Cuba team were in Finland playing in a World League tournament prior to the Rio Olympics.
Finnish police initially detained eight players, but released two of them who are no longer suspects.
A court ordered six suspects to remain in custody while the investigation continued. All six men have denied the charge.
Click here to read the full article.
Court dismissed today another request from one of the remanded Cuban #volleyball players to be liberated in the suspected #rape case. #Cuba
— Anne Kauranen (@AKauranen) August 2, 2016
The 6 players are Dariel Miranda, Alfonso Gavilán, Ricardo Calvo, Luis Sosa, Osmany Uriarte and Rolando Cepeda.
July 18th, 2016:
From yle.fi:
The tabloid Ilta-Sanomat reports on Monday that the head (Rodolfo Luis Sanchez Sanchez) and assistant coach (Pavel Noel Pimienta Allen) of Cuba’s national volleyball team have been fired as a consequence of the rape scandal in early July that took place in Tampere, Finland. Six players on the team are still detained in Finland on suspicion of aggravated rape.
The Cuban newspaper OnCuba’s website featured a story on Friday saying that the coaching duo of the Cuban national team had been fired. Head coach Rodolfo Luis Sanchez Sanchez and assistant coach Pavel Pimienta were both relieved of their duties after some of their players were accused of rape on a game trip to Finland on July 2.
Six players for the Cuban team are still being held in Finland on suspicion of aggravated rape. Eight were originally apprehended, but two were later released. The rape is believed to have occurred in a Tampere hotel during the volleyball tournament.
Last week Cuba announced that its national volleyball team will participate in the Rio Olympics, even though some of its players are currently being remanded in Finland. The team is now being led by coach Nicolás Vives.
July 6th, 2016:
As of today, 2 players have been released but 6 remain in police custody.
The Cuban Volleyball Federation has released this statement:
“We will take measures that demand justice for these behaviors that go against the ethics and principles that we hold. Preliminary information imputes they are linked to acts totally outside the discipline, honor code and respect that govern our sport and society, which we have defended since January 1959.”
The players in custody are:
Osmany Santiago Uriarte Mestre
Abrahan Alfonso Gavilan
Ricardo Norberto Calvo Manzano
Rolando Cepeda Abreu (pictured below)
Luis Tomas Sosa Sierra
Dariel Albo Miranda
It looks like there’s NO Olympics for them.
July 4th, 2016:
Finnish police have arrested 8 Cuban players on rape charges. Three players were detained last Saturday in Tampere – where Cuba played their World League matches – and 5 more were detained yesterday.
Central Finland regional police is not releasing further information on the “aggravated rape” incident.
Charges have not been officially filed as of press time.
The FIVB has released this statement:
“The FIVB has absolute zero tolerance of any offence committed against another person by any players or officials at an FIVB event.”
We hope this won’t affect Cuba’s participation in the Olympics next month.
Stay tuned for more details.
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