The Chamber for Crimes against State Security of the Havana Provincial Court on Thursday handed down sentences of up to 15 years in prison for nine other 9/11 protesters, on charges of sedition.
The defendants, between the ages of 25 and 39, are Lázaro Yurisan Sarduy, sentenced to 14 years in prison, Lázaro Osmel Salinas (15 years), Yoslien Rosa and Yunier Sánchez (both 11), Deyvis Javier Torres, Carlos Pérez Cosme and Reinier Borrell (10), and Alcides Peró Candó and Manuel Bermúdez (both with 5 years of correctional work without internment).
Prosecutor Roeldys Matos Delgado accused the young people of “riotously disturbing social order and discipline,” in addition to attacking the authorities and contributing to the “undermining of the socialist system.” He admitted that the demonstrators were “thousands of people”, in contrast to the official versions that he tried to impose in the official press.
Matos explained that the “mob” advanced from the surroundings of the cinema in the Mantilla neighborhood of Havana, through the central street of Diez de Octubre, shouting “offensive phrases” against Miguel Díaz-Canel and the Police. The Prosecutor’s Office also accused the protesters of using “stones, sticks and various objects” against the agents in the “popular” Esquina de Toyo, in Diez de Octubre.
Matos explained that the “mob” advanced from the surroundings of the cinema in the Havana neighborhood of Mantilla, through the central street of Diez de Octubre, shouting “offensive phrases” against Miguel Díaz-Canel and the Police
La Esquina de Toyo was precisely one of the most important scenes of 11J. One of the young protesters got into an overturned patrol car and waved a Cuban flag, an image that became one of the icons of the protest. The “young man with the flag”, called Elias Rizomanaged to leave Cuba after the demonstrations and, after a long journey, settle in Madrid.
The defendants, according to Matos, “got on top of” the police cars and even overturned them as a “show of contempt.” The withdrawal of the crowd occurred in the Vía Blanca area, where the Police repressed the protesters more harshly. His prosecutor’s request, after declaring his version of the facts, was for up to 27 years in prison for the young people.
The defense denied all the accusations of the Prosecutor’s Office and, in the case of Borrell, stated that he was not even with the protesters but was driving a motorcycle to the Esquina de Toyo “out of curiosity.” Other lawyers presented similar arguments about the “direct” non-participation of the defendants in the events of 11J. For its part, the defense of Sarduy, ill with AIDS since 2019, reasoned that there was not enough evidence to prosecute him.
The response of the Prosecutor’s Office, as it appears in the minutes, was to insist on the accusations and give the facts as “proven”. In addition, he alleged that the youths were shouting “Freedom!” loudly and sang the chorus of homeland and lifea song “inspired by sentiments contrary to the socialist state system,” in addition to the fact that the agents had heard them say, on more than one occasion, “Díaz-Canel, you are a singao“.
Matos pointed out that if the police officers had drawn their weapons it was to shoot, as in the case of agent Yovani Viera, 14 shots into the air to “protect their colleagues.”
Matos pointed out that if the police officers had drawn their weapons it was to shoot, as in the case of agent Yovani Viera, 14 shots into the air to “protect their colleagues.” In addition, he strove to denigrate all the defendants as having a “violent character”, “vulgar vocabulary”, “poor relations with their neighbors” and prone to “scandal”.
The court, chaired by Nelson Delgado and made up of Irela Heredia, Carlos Hurtado Castillo, Mercedes Ramos and Juan Sosa, assessed the events, the testimony of various witnesses -mostly police officers and public officials- and the videos used by the experts to identify the demonstrators, and agreed with the accusations of the Prosecutor’s Office.
On January 23, it was known another sentence of the same court against 15 demonstrators whose joint sentence totaled 75 years. Among the defendants was Jonathan Torres, who at the time of the events was only 17 years old. The arguments raised by the Prosecutor’s Office were similar and were well received by the court.
The next day they were judged in East Havana another 10 people, among whom was Professor Pedro Albert Sánchez, accused of public disorder, attack, resistance and contempt. The sentence was up to eight years in prison.
The 9/11 trials, which have had an exemplary character from the beginning, were addressed by the Minister of Justice, Óscar Silvera, in a meeting with ambassadors of the European Union last week. During the meeting, Silvera pointed out to the diplomats the impossibility of offering amnesty to the protesters.
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