The judicial authority has not reported the number of people arrested, but according to an NGO, 1,355 people were detained, of which 719 are still imprisoned.
The trials of those detained for the unprecedented demonstrations of July 11 continue this week in Cuba, with at least nine under 20 years of age, facing sentences of between 15 and 18 years in prison, according to a local group that keeps a record of cases.
“I feel too bad, this is very ugly,” Emilio Román told AFP by telephone, outside a court in the capital, where two of his 25 and 17-year-old sons were being tried on Monday.
According to the 11J Facebook group, which has been monitoring the cases, this week 17 people will be tried in the Municipal Court of October 10, in Havana, and another 28 in two summary trials, in the neighboring province. from Mayabeque.
Román’s children are accused of sedition, attack and spread of COVID-19. The prosecution requests 20 years in prison for Yosney Emilio Román, 25, while for his brother Emiyoslán, 17, he requests 15 years.
The People’s Supreme Court held a ceremony on Monday to analyze the “results and dissatisfactions” in 2021 of the judiciary, the local press published.
Its president, Rubén Remigio Ferro, said that justice served in “very complex” circumstances, and that the judicial bodies judged those who “committed acts of vandalism, violent attacks against authorities and officials, and other serious criminal acts.” as well as those who failed to comply with the measures against COVID-19.
He said that the “weaknesses” of the judiciary subtract “credibility from judicial activity, and generate justified complaints and dissatisfaction in the population.”
For their part, the activist Carolina Barrero and two other dissidents were arrested when “they were demonstrating peacefully” outside the highest court “demanding the immediate release of political prisoners in Cuba,” the Archipelago political think tank reported on Twitter.
Last Friday, the activist Saily González and relatives of Andy García, a prisoner in the central city of Santa Clara, were also detained for a few hours on their way to his trial.
The judicial authority has not reported the number of people arrested and prosecuted for the demonstrations that broke out on July 11 to the cry of “We are hungry” and “Freedom”, which left one dead and dozens injured.
According to the human rights NGO Cubalex, 1,355 were arrested, of which 719 are still in prison.
“We urge the international community to join us in condemning the widespread repression of the legitimate aspirations of the Cuban people,” Brian Nichols, US Under Secretary of State for Western Affairs, said on Twitter on Friday. (I)
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