The Prosecutor’s Office requests seven and ten years in prison, respectively. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International described the judicial process as a “farce”
< /i>
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo, also known as “El Osorbo”
Cuban artists and opponents Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo, imprisoned since last year , were summoned to start a trial against them this Monday and Tuesday,activists reported. It began without six diplomats or the international press being allowed access, journalists from the AFP agency confirmed.
The Prosecutor’s Office asks for Otero Alcántara seven years in prison and 10 for rapper Castillo -also known as Osorbo-, art curator Claudia Genlui told the AP agency.
At the door of the court there was early police custody and a group of half a dozen European diplomats who were waiting to enter the room, AP found.In cases like these, access is usually restricted so that only family members can enter.
Last week the curator and activist Genlui published a message from Otero Alcántara in which she thanked the support for her cause and that of all the “political prisoners”.
“In these months the regime has given me exile outside of Cuba as the only way out of prison, otherwise I will be seven years in prison”, expressed Otero Alcantara.
Otero Alcántara is an artist who became known after staging works 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 in a demonstration that ended with an unusual sit-in of artists in front of the Ministry of Culture.
Osorbo, for his part, is one of the composers of a song with a strong political connotation called Patria y Vidawhich won a Latin Grammy Award this year.
The trial against Cuban opposition artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo (Osorbo) began on Monday in a court in Havana, without allowing access to six diplomats who requested to attend the hearing (AFP)
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-, although they did not have a clear leadership and they did not participate in them.
This trial is not linked to the anti-government protests of July 11 last. They are being tried for some controversial events that occurred on April 4, 2021.
Otero Alcántara was arrested before arriving at the demonstrations in July and charged with an alleged crime of public disorder in relation to a community activity that he sought to do with children in April 2021. Osorbo has been imprisoned since May 2021 accused of contempt and resistance to authority.
The case drew international attention.
On Monday, diplomats from Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands appeared in front of the 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 process as trial of “farce”.
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 work without internment for attack).
(With information from AP, EFE and AFP)< /i>