Political prisoner Luis Robles spent his 29th birthday in prison

The young CubanLuis Robles Elizástegui He turned 29 this Thursday in the Combinado del Este prison, in Havana, where he has been imprisoned for almost a year, without having been notified of a trial date to date.

Robles Elizástegui, a computer science graduate and native of the province of Guantánamo, went out on San Rafael Boulevard in Havana on December 4, 2020, with a banner calling for the release of rapper Denis Solís, sentenced to eight months for "contempt" in a trial lacking legal guarantees.

The Prosecutor's Office requests a joint sentence of six years for him for the alleged crimes of "enemy propaganda" and "resistance." There is still no date for his trial, which was scheduled for July 16 in the Popular Municipal Court of Diez de Octubre, but was suspended as a result of theanti-government protests that took place on July 11.

"On December 4, 2020, the accused Luis Robles Elizástigui, with the poster in his possession and with the purpose of starting a provocation in a place where several people attended, at noon he went to the “Curita” park located in the municipality of Centro Habana, but upon realizing that there were not many people, he continued his journey along Águila Street until he reached San Rafael Boulevard between Industria and Consulate of the same municipality and once there he approached the freely convertible currency store where people attended. several people; he took out the poster that he had in his backpack and with the purpose of creating an environment that destabilized the internal social order and in opposition to the system of economic development chosen by the majority of the Cuban population, he shouted phrases like those shown on the poster. : “Freedom”, “Down with the dictatorship” and others of disagreement with the measures adopted by the country's leadership to somehow survive in the face of the ironclad economic blockade to which we are subjected by the United States of America such as: “Remove the stores in MLC", moving from one side to another to invite the people who were there to follow him and in this way generate disorder," says the accusation document, to which he had accessRadio Television Martí.

The document identifies the agent who arrested him as Vladimir Rodríguez Despaigne and recognizes that Robles managed to capture the sympathy of passersby and generate "with his actions, disorder among the people who were there, among whom there were those who joined him in his demonstrations, shouting identical phrases, attracting others who gathered in front of the public establishment, others lending themselves to filming the events from their cell phones.

In the last 11 months, Robles has been subjected to mistreatment in prison andsent to a punishment cell at least five times. The authorities have deniedon two occasions the change of precautionary measure requested by his lawyer.

This Thursday, dozens of people sent Robles congratulatory messages and demanded his immediate freedom on social networks.

"Today is also the birthday of Luis Robles, who has almost spent a whole year in jail without a trial yet being held. Robles came out to ask for what many of us want: freedom. That is why he is in prison," the independent journalist wrote on Facebook. Luz Escobar.

"At 8:00 p.m. Happy Birthday will be sung to these two Luises from my country who came into the world on December 2 to perhaps vindicate that date that history today presents to us as disastrous. December 2 no longer arrived the Granma Yacht to Cuba, on December 2 two men were born who are political prisoners of the dictatorship that brought that yacht to Cuba," wrote activist and entrepreneur Saily González, also remembering the34th birthday of the artivist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, also in prison.

Since January 2021, Robles was declared a prisoner of conscience by the NGO Prisoners Defenders (PD).

Your case has motivatednumerous complaints from institutions and organizations that monitor the Human Rights situation on the island. The United Nations Human Rights Council's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled months ago that his arrest qualifies as arbitrary detention and urged the Cuban government to release him.