Havana , Cuba ( CNN ) -- A Spanish politician is facing a charge of vehicular homicide for the car crash that killed prominent Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya , Cuba 's state press said Tuesday . Angel Carromero could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison if found guilty . He is accused of speeding and then losing control of a car that he , Paya , Swedish politician Jans Aron Modig and Cuban dissident Harold Cepero were traveling in . Paya and Cepero were killed when the car struck a tree Sunday near Las Gavinas , Cuba . The men had been traveling across the island to meet some of Paya 's supporters in Santiago de Cuba when the crash occurred . The Cuban government said the crash was the result of a single-car accident . Paya had tried for decades to change Cuba 's single-party system of government . He delivered thousands of signatures in an unsuccessful attempt to force a national referendum and was a constant critic of the Cuban government . But Paya also had called for reconciliation between the polarized extremes that dominate the debate over Cuba 's future . Following Paya 's death , his family immediately accused Cuban authorities of foul play and said they had received information that another vehicle had forced the car Paya was in off the road . `` I ca n't take the word of the same government that wants to kill my husband , that threatened his life a ton of times , '' Paya 's widow , Ofelia Acevedo , told CNN . Acevedo said over the years her family suffered frequent intimidations at the hands of Cuban state security . She said she would continue to have doubts about her husband 's death until she had the opportunity to interview both Modig and Carromero herself . `` I am asking for the intervention of an international organization that could send investigators here to do an analysis of the accident , '' she said . On Tuesday , Cuba 's official press published a 1,539-word editorial on the crash titled `` Truth and reason . '' The editorial announced that Carromero would face charges and that Modig would be permitted to return to Sweden . Both men had been held by Cuban authorities since the crash . Again the Cuban government denied any hand in Paya 's death . `` It 's not Cuba but the United States that displays a shameful record of political assassinations , extra-official executions , including drone strikes , '' the editorial said . On Tuesday , Modig spoke to reporters at a hastily organized news conference . Members of the international media in Cuba were asked to arrive at the Cuban Press Center and then were taken by buses to a house were officers of Cuba 's Interior Ministry stood guard . Jans Aron Modig then walked into the room where the press had gathered . Sitting at a table with Cuban officials , Modig said he was sorry for having traveled to Cuba on a tourist visa to meet with members of the island 's dissident movements . He said he had come to `` understand that these activities are not legal in Cuba and I would like to apologize for coming here and doing illegal activities . '' Modig denied that another vehicle had been involved in the crash . `` I have no memory of any other car , '' he said , but refused to elaborate on how the accident took place . After less than 10 minutes of speaking to the press , Modig said he did not want to take any more questions and left the room . On Monday night , Cuban state-television showed about 20 minutes of video of the meeting with foreign journalists along with video of a separate and apparently longer news conference that Modig gave solely to Cuba 's government-controlled media outlets . Officials said holding two news conferences was necessary due `` to space issues '' at the house where Modig spoke . Carromero , the Spanish politician , did not speak , but a clip of a video was shown by officials in which Carromero also said that the crash had been an accident . `` As far as the news reports that they have let me read , I ask that the international community focuses on getting me out of here , '' Carromero said , `` and not use a traffic accident that could happen to anyone for political purposes . '' Cuban state media usually does not discuss in such depth traffic accidents , much less what officials called `` small factions of dissidents . '' Dissidents like Paya are generally referred to as `` traitors '' and `` sell-outs '' who have sided with the United States government over Cuba in the still-simmering war of words between the two countries . Paya 's family said they were trying to adapt to life without him and with the added scrutiny his death brought . `` All these things we have seen on TV and the accounts of what they call an accident is very unusual , '' said Acevedo , Paya 's widow . `` But they do n't talk about who was Oswaldo Paya . ''
Angel Carromero could be sentenced to 10 years in prison if found guilty , state media says . Cuban President Oswaldo Castro died in the crash ; his family suspects government foul play . Another passenger in the crash was ` ` for coming here and doing illegal activities ''