A trial for Cuban artists and opponents, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo, imprisoned since last year, began activists and colleagues of the creators reported on Monday in Havana.
The Prosecutor’s Office asks for seven years in prison for Otero Alcántara and 10 for the rapper Castillo -also known as Osorbo- and the trial is expected to run through Tuesday, art curator Claudia Genlui told The Associated Press.
At the door of the court in Marianao there had been police custody since early Monday and a group of half a dozen European diplomats who were waiting to be able to enter the room, confirmed the official. AP. In cases like these, access is usually restricted so that only family members can enter.
The plastic artist Julio Llopiz-Casal was one of the defense witnesses for Otero Alcántara.< /p>
“I went together with the artist Lázaro Saavedra, who is a national plastic arts award winner, to speak from the point of view of the arts of what what is the performance and what are the credentials of Luis Manuel & rdquo ;, Llopiz-Casal told the AP, who referred to that he was in a room where there was a judge, several magistrates and a panel of the Prosecutor, in addition to the lawyers.
According to Llopiz-Casal, the defense attorney said during the hearing that the trial had “started from the basis that Luis Manuel is not an artist, but a criminal,” for which he called a lawsuit. to testify to other artists, to seek to demonstrate that Otero Alcántara is a creator.
Otero Alcántara, 34, became known after staging plays with the Cuban flag–some considered disrespectful on the island— that caused controversy at the beginning of this decade and for leading a movement of opponents of the government called San Isidro – the neighborhood where he lives -, which in 2020 starred a demonstration that concluded
Osorbo, for his part, 39, is one of the composers of a song with a markedly political connotation. tica called “Patria y Vida” what won a Latin Grammy award this year, and that became in a kind of anthem for critics of the island government after unusual protests in July 2021. The title is a twist on the official phrase “¡Patria o Muerte!”.
There were no comments to an AP request to the Cuban authorities about the judicial process, however, on previous occasions in which both artists were brought before the courts, the government indicated that they had been prosecuted for actions criminalized by current legislation and not for their political ideas.
Both figures were linked to the protests that took place on the island in July 2021 – in the midst of the pandemic and in the context of a strong economic crisis, shortages and blackouts. However, neither of them had a clear leadership and they did not participate in them.
Otero Alcántara was arrested before arriving at the demonstrations in July and charged with the alleged crime of public disorder in relation to a community activity that sought to kill him. What to do with children in April 2021. Osorbo has been in prison since May 2021, accused of contempt and resisting authority in the same case. A message from Otero Alcántara in which he thanked the support for his cause and that of all the “political prisoners”.
“In these months the regime He has given me exile outside of Cuba as the only way out of prison, otherwise I will be in prison. seven years in prison & rdquo ;, expressed Otero Alcantara.
The cause called international attention.
On Monday, diplomats from Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands appeared in court. The representatives indicated that they had requested to attend the oral hearing at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, but that they were not authorized.
Last week the organizations Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International described the judicial process as of “farce”.