The Cuban nurse Aroni Yanko García Valdés was sentenced to one and a half years in prison by the Municipal Court of Santa Clara for posting a meme on Facebook featuring images of Miguel Díaz-Canel, Raúl Castro, and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz.
The young man, father of three children, was accused of aggravated contempt, a crime that on the island is applied to those who threaten, defame, insult, or offend high-ranking government officials. This crime has a maximum penalty of three years in prison on the island.
"The prosecutor emphasized that the act constituted a lack of respect towards the figures of the revolution and stated that the meme was a clear case of aggravated contempt," said García Valdés's wife, Yunisley Suárez Rodríguez, in statements to Martí Noticias.
The family plans to appeal the court decision, he noted.
The woman reported that the trial lasted approximately two and a half hours and was conducted under strict security measures, allowing only the entry of the accused's family.
García Valdés is the father of three children, and at the time of his arrest, he was working at the Capitán Roberto Fleites polyclinic, better known as Malezas among the residents of Santa Clara.
He was arrested on April 3 and transferred to La Pendiente prison after a brief detention at the Unit of Crimes Against State Security.
The prosecutor requested the maximum sentence provided for the aforementioned crime for García Valdés: three years of imprisonment.
"This type of repression is characteristic of totalitarian regimes that seek to control freedom of expression to remain in power," commented journalist José Raúl Gallego.
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