MADRID, Spain.- Cuban authorities suspended at the last minute the trial of Sulmira Martínez Pérez, the 22-year-old woman imprisoned for her activism on social networks. The trial, which was scheduled for this Monday, has been postponed “until September,” according to Norma Pérez Ferrer, the young woman’s mother, reported to the media Cuban Diary.
Last weekPérez Ferrer had been informed that the trial would take place on August 12 in the Municipal Court of Diez de Octubre, where her daughter would face charges of “contempt.”
Norma Pérez Ferrer expressed her deep concern about the emotional impact that this new suspension has had on her daughter. “This has affected Sulmira emotionally because she was about to get out of the uncertainty, but now this suspension is making her tense,” she denounced. The mother also pointed out that the young woman was “very upset” after receiving the news, since she had been preparing for the trial since 4:00 AM. “She is under psychiatric treatment and now she is getting worse, they (the rulers) do not care about that,” she added helplessly.
The suspension of the trial has also created financial difficulties for her family. “It affects me financially because I am the one who has to pay for another car to get to court and for the lawyer,” explained Norma Pérez. In addition, she mentioned that the entire family is in suspense, not knowing what sentence the young woman will face.
Martínez was arrested on January 10, 2023 after calling for a day of protests on Facebook similar to that of July 11, 2021 (11J). In her message, Sulmira urged immediate action and organization, writing: “We need organization… Spread the word! We are planning another July 11th” and “For those who say that those who push don’t hit each other: I am planning a demonstration, it is for the street, not behind a screen.” That same day, State Security agents broke into her home and arrested her.
Since her arrest, Sulmira has been held in provisional detention, first in Villa Marista, the headquarters of the Cuban regime’s State Security, and then in the women’s prison of El Guatao. During her stay in Villa Marista, the young woman was subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, according to complaints made by her family. The date of her trial has been postponed on several occasions.
Last June, it was learned that prosecutor Edward Roberts Campbell requested for Sulmira a 10-year sanction of imprisonment for the alleged crimes of “contempt” and “acts against the constitutional order.” The Prosecutor’s Petition maintains that Sulmira’s calls were “for the purpose of changing the political, economic and social order established in the Constitution of the Republic,” making her case another example of the use of the judicial system to repress dissent in Cuba.
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