The Cuban influencer Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente (Anna Bensi) arrived with her mother, Caridad Silvente, at the courtroom in Cojímar, Havana, where both are facing trial this Thursday, amidst applause and expressions of support from several people who managed to gather at the site, while the young woman reported a large police operation since leaving her home.
"No fear, no fear. We are with you. You have done nothing. You are only speaking the truth," various people can be heard saying in a video shared on social media.
Bensi assured that both felt “helpless” in the face of the police presence deployed since early morning in the vicinity of their home and during the journey to the court.
“We feel powerless because since we left the house, well, since we woke up today, there is a police presence throughout the area. There are patrols, police officers, dozens of plainclothes officers,” stated the young activist.
Bensi asserted that there were also plainclothes officers in the vicinity of the courthouse and reported that they were monitored throughout the entire journey.
«In fact, here there are, because of all this, plainclothes police. Police dressed normally,» she stated. «As we were coming along, as if we were some criminals, they were patrolling us the whole way».
Before the court hearing celebration, it was also reported, in addition, arrests and movement restrictions against individuals who intended to accompany Bensi and Silvente.
Among those detained are Christian activist David Espinosa Martínez and evangelical pastor Rolando Fidel Pérez Lora, known as "Pregonero de Cristo."
Bensi directly referred to the detention of "Pregonero de Cristo" and noted that, according to the information he had received, he was taken by the authorities without being given an explanation.
"They took Pregonero de Cristo away, handcuffed as if he were a criminal. And they did not give him any justification," he emphasized.
The young woman directly linked that arrest to the restrictions that—she claimed—those expressing critical views in Cuba face.
"They took him away because, literally, Cuba is a dictatorship where one cannot think differently," he stated.
At another time, Bensi turned to his faith and expressed his confidence that, despite his doubts about the judicial process, God would act with justice.
"So today what we have to do is to let the truth be known and that my God may be glorified," he said.
The young woman then questioned whether the process could take place fairly. "Will the trial be just when we are governed by a state of injustice? The trial will not be fair. But I have a just God. Amen!" she concluded.
Bensi's reports align with reports of home surveillance and restrictions aimed at preventing activists, journalists, and others from reaching the People's Municipal Court of Havana del Este in Cojímar.
Members of the youth project Fuera de la Caja Cuba reported that agents had informed them they could not leave their homes until after 11:00 AM. The group reported patrols and agents in front of the homes of several of its members.
Anna Bensi and Caridad Silvente are accused of "acts against personal and family privacy" for recording and posting on social media the visit of an agent from the Ministry of the Interior who came to their home to deliver a summons from State Security.
The process began in March and both remain under house arrest and are prohibited from leaving the country.
The case had initially been closed, but it was reopened after MININT sub-official Yoel Leodán Rabaza Ramos, who appears in the video, filed a complaint.
According to Bensi, the plaintiff's lawyer requested two years of imprisonment for Bensi and two years of restricted freedom for Silvente.
In the days leading up to the hearing, artists, religious figures, activists, and content creators shared messages of support for mother and daughter. The expressions of solidarity intensified this Thursday coinciding with the trial.
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