“They are being prosecuted for exercising their human right to criticize their own government,” said HRW’s acting director for the Americas. The Prosecutor’s Office asks for between 7 and 10 years in prison for each one
The human rights organizations Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) called this Thursday on the Cuban regime to release “immediately and unconditionally” the artists Maykel Castillo Pérez (“El Osorbo”) and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who will be tried on May 30 and 31.
“Maykel Castillo Pérez and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara are being prosecuted for exercising their human right to criticize their own government”HRW acting director for the Americas, Tamara Taraciuk Broner, said in a statement.
Otero Alcántara, artist and leader of the San Isidro Movement (MSI ) and in prison since July 11, he is accused of the alleged crimes of outrage against the symbols of the country, contempt and public disorder.
The rapper Castillo, known as “El Osorbo”, who has been in prison since May 2021, is responsible, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, for the alleged crimes of contempt, “defamation of institutions and organizations and of heroes and martyrs”, attack and public disorder.
The Prosecutor’s Office requests between 7 and 10 years of jail for everyone.
Illustrative file photo of Cuban dissident Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara speaking during an interview at his home in Havana (REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini)
Amnesty International’s director for the Americas, Erika Guevara-Rosas, assured, for her part, that “the governments of Latin America and Europe should closely monitor the trial against these Cuban prisoners of conscience, who should never have spent a day in prison.”
The trial is not linked to the anti-government protests of July 11,< /b> but they are being tried for some controversial events of April 4, 2021.
That day, “El Osorbo”, co-performer of the song “Patria y vida” —later the motto of the July 11 protests—, was arrested after a run-in with some agents —apparently because his companion was not wearing a mask—; after which he fled to Otero Alcántara’s house and shouted slogans against the government from there, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
The singer was not arrested until a month later and Since then, he has remained in prison.
“Patria y Vida”, performed by Yotuel , Gente de Zona, Decemer Bueno, Maykel Osorbo and El Funky
The Prosecutor’s Office also includes in its brief other previous facts that it considers to constitute a crime by the two dissidents.
It refers to facts such as “offensive writings against the flag” on the networks , photographing himself with the national flag “while performing physiological needs” and posting “memes” on Facebook to “ridicule and discredit” the country’s president, prime minister and Parliament.
They are also accused of insulting the leader of the Cuban regime, accusing the Government in networks of “the lack of medical resources” during the pandemic and insulting the Ministry of the Interior and the security forces, among other charges.
The case includes three others under investigation: Félix Roque Delgado (request for five years in prison for attack), Juslid Justiz Lazo (five years of correctional work with internment for attack) and Reina Sierra Duvergel (three years of correctional without internment for attack).
(With information from EFE)