The United States government demanded the freedom of the young CubanLuis Robles Elizástigui, imprisoned for a year on the island for walking with a sign along San Rafael Boulevard in Havana to demand at that time the release of the rapperDenis Solis.
“Luis Robles faces up to six more years in prison for peacefully holding a banner supporting the release of Denis Solís. We join the call of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions of the United Nations Human Rights Office for the Cuban government to release him immediately.#FreeLuisRobles #PrisonersWhy", stated this Wednesday on Twitter, the Undersecretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs of the United States Department of State, Brian A. Nichols.
The official also shared a message from the United States Embassy in Cuba in which the arrest of Robles is also condemned and the regime is accused of silencing artists who express themselves peacefully.
“Luis Robles, musician. Instead of allowing artists to express themselves peacefully, the Cuban government silences them with prison,” says the message from the US diplomatic headquarters on the island.
The trial is set for this Thursday against Robles Elizástigui in the Provincial Court of Havana, at 9:00 a.m., in which his relatives hope that “justice will be done and Luis will be free.”
According to statements by brother Landys Fernández Elizástigui toRadio Television Martí, his mother, Yinra Elizástigui Jardines, was notified by telephone of the oral hearing this Thursday.
“We hope that justice is done and that Luis can be released since nowhere in the world is it a crime to demonstrate peacefully as he did. Let's hope that this suffering is over and that he can be free with his family and his son," Fernández Elizástigui told the aforementioned media.
Luis Robles was arrested on December 4, 2020, afterwalk along the Havana boulevard of San Rafael carrying demands against the repression and demanding the freedom of rapper Denis Solís, recently exiled after serving eight months in prison for contempt.
Robles' solo protest was also motivated by violence against members of theSan Isidro Movement, quartered days before at its headquarters at Damas 955, in Old Havana.
Robles was declared a political prisoner by the Prisoners Defenders organization and is accused of the crimes of enemy propaganda and disobedience. The prosecution proposes a penalty of six years of deprivation of liberty.
During this year they have denied him resources forchange of measurement, has been subjected to cruel and degrading treatment in prison ranging from denial of medical care,repeated confinement in punishment cells and threats by State Security officials.
Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Cuban Observatory of Human Rights and Amnesty International have also spoken out for the release of the young man, one of the more than 800 political prisoners in Cuba.
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