A Cuban activist who posted photos of herself draped in her country's flag on Facebook was sentenced to three years in prison for “insulting the symbols of the homeland,” human rights groups said Friday.
“Yesterday [jeudi] The verdict regarding the sentencing of the activist and political prisoner Aniette Gonzalez Garcia was known, namely three years of deprivation of liberty,” the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights said on X.
Aniette Gonzalez, 44, arrested in March 2023, had taken part in an initiative called “The flag belongs to everyone”, created in solidarity with the visual artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, who was arrested in 2022 for “insulting symbols of the world “Homeland, outrage and public disorder” was sentenced to five years in prison.
“We condemn the sentence of three years in prison to Aniette Gonzalez for publishing on social networks a photo with the national flag in solidarity with Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara,” denounced Amnesty International Americas on Friday on X.
Aniette Gonzalez was tried in October in a court in Camagüey, a province in eastern Cuba.
Several human rights organizations and the US Embassy in Havana count around a thousand “political prisoners” on the island, including hundreds of participants in the anti-government protests on July 11, 2021.
The United States, the European Union and the Catholic Church have called for her release.
The Cuban government does not indicate the existence of political prisoners on the island.