The Cuban activist Anna Bensi shared exclusively with CubaNet what she experienced inside the courtroom on Thursday, when the People's Municipal Tribunal of Havana del Este found her and her mother guilty, sentencing them to two years of restricted freedom each.
The young woman described a process that began with the statements of both defendants, followed by that of the plaintiff — the MININT sub-official Yoel Leodán Rabaza Ramos — the presentation of the video as supposed evidence, the testimonies of witnesses from the opposing side and a psychologist called by the defense, and culminated with the arguments from both lawyers before the oral ruling.
The written judgment had not yet been delivered.
"I have felt a deep sense of powerlessness, you know? Because we know that everything is unfair, everything that has happened today is unjust, I do not agree with the trial, we should not have been involved in this process at any moment," Bensi stated.
The hardest moment of the day, according to her, was not hearing the verdict but witnessing the arrest of the evangelical pastor Rolando Fidel Pérez Lora, known as the "Herald of Christ," before her eyes as he attempted to enter the courthouse to support both women.
"Clearly, the hardest thing I experienced today was when they arrested Pregonero de Cristo, with no reason whatsoever, simply because he wanted to accompany my mother and me to the trial. I felt helpless, I felt tied up," she stated.
The pastor recounted that when he asked the officers the reason for his detention, their response was a physical assault: they twisted his arms and put on very tight handcuffs that were not removed for over two hours, despite him informing the police that he suffered from depression and requesting medical attention. When they finally took them off, his arm was swollen and there were visible marks on his hands.
"It's something we didn't expect, that a Cuban citizen could be kidnapped in broad daylight without committing a crime," the pastor remarked.
The Christian activist David Espinosa Martínez was arrested under a different pretext: an alleged theft of tricycle parts, a charge he immediately denied. He was taken to the La Lisa police station, where a plainclothes counterintelligence officer oversaw his case while maintaining the facade of the tricycle at all times.
Espinosa confronted the officer directly: "Look, you all know very well why you stopped me. You didn't want me to go to the trial."
He was released as soon as the trial concluded, which he himself described as a "copy-paste" of the State Security's modus operandi in similar situations.
Other activists from the group "Out of the Box" were besieged in their homes to prevent them from reaching the court in Cojímar. Despite the extensive operation, a crowd of people—mostly believers—gathered in front of the building in a show of solidarity.
Regarding the sentence, Anna Bensi explained that the complainant's lawyer had requested two years in prison for her and two years of restricted freedom for her mother.
The police officer himself, on the other hand, had only requested a public apology video. The court did not grant the request for imprisonment, but sentenced both to two years of restricted freedom, a situation equivalent to a kind of house arrest with movement restrictions.
Anna thanked her defense attorney, identified as Roberto, whom she described as "bold" for taking on a case that, according to her, exposes those who defend people speaking out in Cuba to constant threats.
The day after the trial, the court itself published a statement on Facebook claiming that the video had exposed the agent's address, an argument that the images of the ID contradict: the document only shows the name, file number, category, physical characteristics, and validity date, with no address field.
David Espinosa summarized the day with a phrase that captures the sentiment of those who were present: "It was an assault from them, from state security, from the authorities of the country. A total violation. I can't find any logic in it in real life."
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