Sentences for Cuban players' sexual crimes reduced

The sentences received by five Cuban volleyball players last year for sexual crimes in Finland were reduced, said appeals court in Turku, southwestern Finland on Friday.

A district court in Tampere, central southern Finland had sentenced the Cubans for aggravated rape that had taken place in a hotel in Tampere during competitions in the summer of 2016.

In the verdict by the Turku appeals court, prison time was reduced and charges against Luis Tomas Sosa Sierra, 22, were dismissed. He was ordered to be released immediately. He had earlier been sentenced three and a half years in prison.

Abrahan Alfonso Gavilan, 22, was sentenced now for sexual assault and given one year and three months imprisonment. In the district court, he had been given five years for aggravated rape.

The sentence for Rolando Cepeda Abreu, 28, changed from aggravated crime and five years in prison to plain rape and two and a half years in prison.

The longest sentences were given to Osmany Santiago Uriarte Mestre, 22, and Ricardo Norberto Calvo Manzano, 20. Mestre got four years imprisonment for aggravated rape and Manzano three and a half years for aggravated rape.

The sentences given last autumn had been longer than usual, Finland's national broadcaster Yle reported.

The appeals court determined that there were two separate entities of action, whereas the district court had considered the actions as one entity that the sentenced persons were jointly responsible, newspaper Turun Sanomat reported.