Havana/The Cuban Prosecutor’s Office asks for up to nine years in jail for six Cubans for a peaceful cacerolazo in protest of the blackouts during a process that began this Wednesday in the Provincial Court of Villa Clara.
The defendants, among which is the Cuban intellectual and independent journalist José Gabriel Barrenechea, are accused of public disorders, according to the final conclusions of the prosecution of the Prosecutor’s Office, to which EFE has had access.
Five of the accused remain in provisional imprisonment since a few days after the courts were produced on November 7, 2024.
The trial began in the afternoon, with the declaration of the defendants. Activists and family denounced the arrest of the historic Cuban opponent Guillermo Coco Fariñas, when they moved to the court to attend the sight.
According to The prosecution of the prosecutionthe accused – with three cauldrons “who could not be occupied” – led a cacerolazo in the crossroads (center of Cuba) taking advantage of “the absence of electric fluid caused by the electro -energy crisis in the country.”
The action, with “incessant touches” already “high decibels”, was accompanied by repeated shouts of “put the current, we want current.” This, argues the Prosecutor’s Office, meant “disturbing citizen tranquility” and “hindering vehicle traffic on public roads.”
The Prosecutor’s Office requests six years in jail for Barrenechea
With this description, the Prosecutor’s Office requests nine years in jail for two of the accused, six for Barrenechea, five for another and four for a last investigation. For the sixth accused, five years of limitation of freedom are requested.
The six defendants are all male, native of crossroads, and are between 26 and 53 years. None have a criminal record.
Barrenechea He was arrested a few days After protest. His request to be released waiting for trial was rejected and he was only allowed to leave prison to go to his mother’s funeral (but not visit her when she was already seriously ill).
On June 25, the Prosecutor’s Office delivered to the Provincial Court of Villa Clara a petition for penalty of Six years in prison For the communicator, collaborator of this newspaper. The document details that the “crime” of Barrenechea – who initially sought to accuse of sedition – during the peaceful manifestations, after 48 hours without electric current at the crossroads, was shouting “put the current, we want the current”, in chorus along with other protesters, and urge “to a living voice to which the people present did not give up their actions.”
The document adds that the journalist “shows total disaffection for the revolutionary process and its top leader.” He also points out that he is a citizen without a criminal record, but that “relates to people of bad morality and social behavior, and has no recognized labor link.”
The document adds that the journalist “shows total disaffection for the revolutionary process and its top leader”
During these last 10 months, Barrenechea has been imprisoned in The Penitentiary Center the slopein Santa Clara. The place is “known for its extreme overcrowding conditions and to house prisoners of all kinds,” according to the Complaints Center of the Pan American Democracy Foundation. His stay there has represented “a serious risk to his life,” said the entity in a statement days after the detention of the communicator.
In prison, the communicator suffered the death of his motherZoila Esther Chávez, who depended on him, and was only allowed to attend his funeral for an hour and a half.
Amnesty International researcher for Cuba, Johanna Cilano, referred to social networks trial on Wednesday. “The protest is a right, no one should be imprisoned just for exercising their human rights,” he said.
Cilano connected this process with two other judgments recently held in Cuba, such as Bayamo’s protests in March 2024, for which 15 people have been sentenced to up to 9 years in jail for protesting.
