A prominent Cuban intellectual was found guilty of “disobedience” on Tuesday in Matanzas, in the center of the country, after regularly demonstrating alone and peacefully for human rights.
“The trial is over,” Alina Barbara Lopez, 58, said on her Facebook page. “I have been found guilty of the offense of disobedience and will appeal to the provincial court,” the historian and essayist added.
Prosecutors demanded a fine, placement under house arrest and a ban on leaving the country, she told AFP. “The prosecution’s arguments are unacceptable, I will appeal,” she said.
“The court was surrounded by police officers who patrolled all the surrounding streets,” explained the academic. According to them, two people who were on their way to court were “taken to a police station.”
“It was incredible because it was a simple trial for disobedience against a peaceful person who does not belong to any political (…) or illegal organization,” she emphasized.
“I am just a renowned intellectual whom they have treated like a criminal of the worst kind,” she denounced.
Police harassment of the academic began in April when she demonstrated alone in a square in Matanzas, a city 85 kilometers from Havana where she lives, as a sign of solidarity with another intellectual, Jorge Fernandez Era, journalist and Writer briefly arrested and interrogated because of his professional activities.
According to Ms. Lopez, the latter was also “arrested” on Tuesday when he wanted to attend the trial.
In April, after her arrest, Ms. Lopez announced that she would demonstrate alone every 18th of the month.
In her actions, according to her publications on social networks, she particularly called for a “National Constituent Assembly”, “freedom for political prisoners” and an end to harassment against those who “exercise their freedom of expression”.
On the eve of her trial on Monday, she accused on Facebook “the state security organs” and in particular the “intelligence director” Alejandro Castro Espin, son of former leader Raul Castro, of “being the main perpetrators of the crimes” and illegalities committed on a daily basis (… .) against defenseless citizens who are prevented from exercising their rights.
Ahead of the trial, Amnesty International expressed concern on X (formerly Twitter) about Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel’s “new attempt” to “silence dissidents in Cuba.”
The trial comes days after the European Union’s special envoy for human rights, Eamon Gilmore, visited the communist island. According to NGOs, a thousand political prisoners are imprisoned in Cuba.