The Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Holguin confirmed this Thursday that the two influencers Dissidents who lead the El4tico digital project are in provisional prison awaiting the “corresponding procedural decisions.”
According to a official statement from the Holguín Prosecutor’s OfficeErnesto Ricardo Medina and Kamil Zayas Pérez, who have been detained for several days, are being investigated for the crimes of “propaganda against the constitutional order and instigation to commit a crime.”
Both content creators, who have gained prominence on the networks for the dissemination of content critical of the Cuban Government, remain in prison as a precautionary measure while “investigation proceedings are carried out to provide evidence and complete the investigations,” the note states.
The Holguín Prosecutor’s Office assured that El4tico has made “publications that incite the people, the members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior to change the constitutional order” of Cuba and that “defame the actions of the country’s political and social institutions.”
Although at the moment there has been no official information about a trial or a possible prosecutor’s request for a conviction for the two young influencers, the penalties for the crimes they are accused of can reach up to eight years and 18 months in prison, respectively, according to the Cuban Penal Code, the agency reports. EFE.
Hearing in Holguín
This Thursday a hearing was held on his case in the Popular Provincial Court of Holguín after the presentation of a habeas corpus by activist Yanet Rodríguez Sánchez. As a result, Cuban authorities confirmed that both dissidents will remain detained.
NGOs and opposition activists have publicly denounced the case of Ernesto Ricardo Medina and Kamil Zayas Pérez, and assure that after their arrest they remained incommunicado and without clear information about the charges.
Likewise, they pointed out that the Cuban authorities prevented the activist who presented the habeas corpusalthough independent media reported the presence of young people and activists outside the Holguín court in support of the detainees.
After learning of the accusation against the dissidents, Amnesty International criticized the judicial decision and assured that “using broad criminal offenses to imprison those who create content sends a message of fear to all citizens: expressing your opinion can cost you your freedom.”
Since his arrest, numerous people have shown their support for El4tico on the networks and have considered his arrest an attack by the Cuban authorities against freedom of expression.
For their part, other Internet users, related to the Government, have questioned the publications of the dissident influencers and have even considered them “traitors”, at times of growing tensions between Washington and Havana, following the events of January 3 in Venezuela and the Trump Administration’s oil blockade of the island.
In this context, NGOs and opposition activists affirm that the island’s authorities are carrying out a repressive “escalation”, which they link to the growing pressure from the United States against Cuba, the agency points out. EFE.
For its part, the Holguín Prosecutor’s Office assured that it “will ensure compliance with due process” in the case of the two content creators, and noted that “once the investigations are concluded, it will adopt the corresponding procedural decisions.”
