Oswaldo Paya: Cuba charges Angel Carromero over activist’s death

Cuba has charged a Spanish political activist over the car accident that killed prominent dissident Oswaldo Paya and another government critic.

Angel Carromero, who was driving the car when it crashed into a tree on July 22, "has been accused of the charge of homicide while driving a vehicle on public roads," Communist Party newspaper Granma reported today.

According to the Associated Press, the charge is the equivalent of vehicular manslaughter.

Carromero and Swedish political activist Jens Aron Modig were injured in the accident, which occurred on a section of unpaved road in southeastern Cuba.

Paya and Harold Cepero Escalante, who were sitting in the backseat and were not wearing seatbelts, were killed.

Carromero could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, Agence France-Presse reported.

An official investigation into the crash concluded that Carromero was speeding when he made an “incorrect decision” to abruptly apply the brakes on a slippery surface.

The BBC reported that Paya's family has rejected the official findings and believed the car may have been forced off the road by a second vehicle.

Carromero remains in custody while Modig has returned to Sweden.

"European soil is under my feet. How wonderful!" the Swede wrote in a tweet today, AFP reported.

Granma reported that Carromero and Modig entered Cuba on July 19 on tourist visas and "in violation of their migratory status, got involved in clearly political activities contrary to the constitutional order."

The two activists admitted they had taken some 4000 euros ($4,900) for Paya and other dissidents, which is illegal in Cuba.

More from GlobalPost: Dissident Oswaldo Paya's widow rejects Cuban report on car crash