Marie Haydée Beltrán Torres
Encyclopedia
Marie Haydée Beltrán Torres (born June 7, 1955) is a Puerto Rican
nationalist who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 1977 bombing of the Mobil Oil Building in Manhattan that killed one person and injured several others. Torres was linked to the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional
(FALN), which claimed responsibility for the Mobil Oil bombing and numerous others. Supporters of Torres consider her a political prisoner
.
She was released on April 14, 2009.
, she stated that the court proceedings were "illegal" and that she had "committed no crime", and demanded that her case be tried before an international court.
She was refused her request and instead given a trial in which she had no legal representation, and was subsequently charged with "seditious conspiracy" (or attempting to overthrow the U.S government), and sentenced to life in prison.
On August 1997, The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
denied her appeal to vacate her sentence. Torres claimed she was denied her constitutional rights under the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments.
, West Virginia
. The High Security Unit
(HSU) was a kind of prison within a prison, occupying a completely isolated Unit of the Federal Correctional Institute. Allegations were made that the unit was an experimental underground political prison that practiced isolation and sensory deprivation
. It was finally closed by a federal judge after two years of protest by religious and human rights
groups.
The ProLIBERTAD organization said that Torres has been denied adequate medical attention. It is alleged that she was
left sterile after prison officials refused treatment for an inflammation of the pelvis for five years, ignoring episodes of
drastic weight loss and severe pains in her pelvis which did not permit her to stand up.
Puerto Rican people
A Puerto Rican is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.Puerto Ricans born and raised in the continental United States are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they were not born in Puerto Rico...
nationalist who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 1977 bombing of the Mobil Oil Building in Manhattan that killed one person and injured several others. Torres was linked to the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional
Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (Puerto Rico)
The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional was a Puerto Rican clandestine paramilitary organization that, through direct action, advocated complete independence for Puerto Rico. At the time of its dissolution, the FALN was responsible for more than 120 bomb attacks on United States targets between...
(FALN), which claimed responsibility for the Mobil Oil bombing and numerous others. Supporters of Torres consider her a political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
.
She was released on April 14, 2009.
Trial
At her trial, Torres refused the appointment of counsel, demanded to represent herself and then informed the district court that she would neither present a defense nor participate in the proceedings. Declaring her status as a prisoner of warPrisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
, she stated that the court proceedings were "illegal" and that she had "committed no crime", and demanded that her case be tried before an international court.
She was refused her request and instead given a trial in which she had no legal representation, and was subsequently charged with "seditious conspiracy" (or attempting to overthrow the U.S government), and sentenced to life in prison.
On August 1997, The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals...
denied her appeal to vacate her sentence. Torres claimed she was denied her constitutional rights under the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments.
Imprisonment
Torres was one of the first subject of an experimental prison unit in AldersonAlderson, West Virginia
Alderson, a town in the US State of West Virginia, is split geographically by the Greenbrier River, with portions in both Greenbrier and Monroe Counties. Although split physically by the river, the town functions as one entity, including that of town government...
, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
. The High Security Unit
High Security Unit
High Security Unit was a "control" unit for women within the Federal Correctional Institution in Lexington, Kentucky. In the less than two years that the HSU was operational it became a focus of national and international concern over human rights abuses.It was opened in 1986 by the U.S. Federal...
(HSU) was a kind of prison within a prison, occupying a completely isolated Unit of the Federal Correctional Institute. Allegations were made that the unit was an experimental underground political prison that practiced isolation and sensory deprivation
Sensory deprivation
Sensory deprivation or perceptual isolation is the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses. Simple devices such as blindfolds or hoods and earmuffs can cut off sight and hearing respectively, while more complex devices can also cut off the sense of smell, touch,...
. It was finally closed by a federal judge after two years of protest by religious and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
groups.
The ProLIBERTAD organization said that Torres has been denied adequate medical attention. It is alleged that she was
left sterile after prison officials refused treatment for an inflammation of the pelvis for five years, ignoring episodes of
drastic weight loss and severe pains in her pelvis which did not permit her to stand up.