The tension was palpable before the court of Havana, where 33 July 11 protesters were tried this week for the crime of sedition. Terrified relatives awaited news in a nearby park despite the fact that several were arrested on Monday for shouting slogans such as “Justice” and “Freedom”.
“On Monday I had a problem here, they arrested me, I am afraid that they will arrest me again,” said with moist eyes, Belkis Ortiz, grandmother of Duannis Dabel León Taboada, a 22-year-old who participated in the historic demonstrations of July and for whom the prosecution asks for 21 years in prison.
A total of 33 protesters were tried between Monday and Thursday for the crime of “sedition” in the court of the municipality of 10 de Octubre, in Havana. The prosecution asks for sentences of up to 25 years in prison.
Sitting at the foot of a tree, Belkis Ortiz waited Wednesday in the same park where she was arrested on Monday with some thirty people who made a circle to ask for “freedom” for her relatives while they were being tried.
The opposition organization Justicia 11J, which keeps track of these cases, posted a video in which these people applaud while shouting slogans. At least 14 people were detained “with violence”, including activists like Carolina Barrero, he said.
As has happened with other young dissidents, on Thursday Barrero was forced to leave the country for Madrid.
“State security gave me 48 hours to leave,” he said on Facebook, explaining that if he did not leave, the detained mothers and activists “would be indicted for the crime of public disorder.”
“Extreme violence”
Monday’s hearing took place under a heavy police deployment that arrived in patrol cars and buses. Plainclothes officers were deployed near the court.
This case is known as the Toyo trial, the name of a bakery located on a corner of the municipality of 10 de Octubre, where on July 11 there was a melee between government supporters and protesters, which left vehicles damaged, at least one patrol turned over. , as well as stones and bottles scattered everywhere.
Lisnay María Mederos Torres, head of the Directorate of Criminal Proceedings of the Attorney General’s Office, told the state news portal Cubadebate that those accused of sedition “acted with extreme violence, organized disturbances of public order, expressly or tacitly agreed to disrespect official institutions committed to guaranteeing citizen security and tranquility.”
In addition, “they used rude and offensive language to incite violence, threw sharp, blunt or incendiary objects against public property; they razed and destroyed what they found in their path,” said Mederos, specifying that the proceedings were carried out “with extensive participation” of defense attorneys in the proceedings.
On January 25, the government reported that 790 people, including 55 under the age of 18, had been charged for the July demonstrations. Another 172 had been convicted, he said.
Only one relative for each defendant had access to the trial, the press was not allowed to enter. A court official explained that the media requires authorization from the president of the People’s Supreme Court.
From the United States, the spokesman for the Department of State, Ned Price, expressed his concern on Thursday in a tweet for the political prisoners, including the artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel “Osorbo” -his stage name-.
“We urge the government of #Cuba to stop jailing its citizens for exercising freedom of expression,” Price said.
“It’s too many years”
For Laila Prieto de La Rosa, wife of a Toyo protester tried this week, her husband does not deserve what is happening to him.
“He climbed on top of a patrol car and for that they ask him for 25 years in prison,” says this 20-year-old woman, raising her voice angrily. “The trial is a total theater and I do not agree, I do not expect anything good.”
Like other relatives authorized to witness the trial, during the recess he meets with his relatives in the park located one block from the court.
Between Tuesday and Wednesday, the presence of soldiers became less visible, but the park was full of government supporters, said relatives of the prisoners, complaining of not being able to approach the court.
“They send us here a block and a half away,” said Caridad García, another 62-year-old grandmother whose 24-year-old granddaughter has been asked for a 17-year sentence.
The trial concluded on Thursday pending the delivery of sentences.
“Justice is the only thing we ask for, it’s too many years, those boys are very young,” says Yesenia Díaz, 32, sister of Oscar Bravo, 23, and a worker at the Havana airport until her arrest, sitting on the grass. .
Source: Gestion
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