HAVANA, (Reuters) – A 31-year-old jailed dissident,  Wilmar Villar Mendoza, died on Thursday in eastern Cuba from the  effects of a 56-day hunger strike and what fellow opposition  activists believe was mistreatment by the Cuban government, a  Cuban human rights activist said.

Wilmar Villar Mendoza

Villar launched his hunger strike shortly after he was  arrested in November, put on trial and sentenced to four years  in prison for crimes including disobedience, resistance and  crimes against the state, said Elizardo Sanchez of the Cuban  Commission of Human Rights.

He said Villar joined an opposition group in the eastern  province of Santiago de Cuba called the Cuban Patriotic Union  last summer and had been an active dissident since then.

He was placed in solitary confinement under difficult  conditions which, combined with his hunger strike, caused  serious health problems that led to his death, Sanchez told  Reuters.

He was been taken to a hospital in the city of Santiago de  Cuba on Jan. 14 as his condition deteriorated, and died there.

“We hold the Cuban government categorically responsible  because he died under their care. We consider this another  avoidable death,” he said.

Cuba drew international condemnation when another imprisoned  dissident, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, died in February 2010 after an  85-day hunger strike.