The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) filed a formal complaint with the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Camagüey, with a copy sent to the competent Military Prosecutor's Office, regarding the serious irregularities surrounding the criminal process against the independent journalist Henry Constantín Ferreiro, who has been held for a month in the maximum-security prison Kilo 7 in Camagüey, without a trial date being set.
The complaint demands that the Presidency of the Supreme People's Tribunal and the Attorney General of the Republic assume their institutional responsibilities, ensure an objective and interference-free investigation, and protect the journalist and those linked to their defense against possible reprisals.
Two central irregularities motivate the complaint. The first is the alleged discovery of a handmade knife among Constantin's belongings during a prison search conducted on Thursday at Kilo 7, an event that the journalist categorically denies and suspects was a deliberate setup.
According to La Hora de Cuba, the officials "went directly to the exact location where he supposedly stored the weapon," which strengthens the suspicion that the object was placed there the night before the search. Additionally, an agent identified as Frank had spoken the day prior to the search with an inmate who occupies the bunk beneath where Constantín sleeps, a detail that OCDH considers relevant to clarify the possible setup.
As a result of the alleged discovery, Major Dany, head of the penitentiary unit, ordered the transfer of the reporter to a punishment cell for at least 15 days and to initiate a procedure for alleged possession of sharp weapons.
The sanction also means that the journalist will forfeit the family and conjugal visit scheduled for next Monday and will be deprived of the daily phone calls that were previously authorized.
The second irregularity reported by the OCDH is the lack of confirmed location of the criminal file. The Municipal Court of Camagüey initially stated that it had returned the file to the Prosecutor's Office, and later claimed to have sent it on October 9, but no judicial or prosecutorial institution has officially confirmed its receipt, which hinders effective defense and prolongs procedural uncertainty.
"We demand guarantees for the physical and psychological integrity of Henry Constantín, the clarification of the alleged discovery, and the immediate location of his file," emphasizes the publication on Facebook.
Constantín was detained on September 16 after responding to a police summons. The authorities accuse him of "disobedience" for allegedly not appearing at a call from the Directorate of Identification, Immigration, and Foreign Affairs; the journalist maintains that he did show up, but the officials had already left.
The case has generated a chain of international condemnations. Reporters Without Borders demanded his release at the end of September and documented that this is at least the nineteenth arrest of the journalist related to his work. The Trump administration called for his release through Under Secretary of State Juan Pablo Segura, and the Inter-American Press Association also condemned his imprisonment.
The journalist's environment has also been impacted by the pressure from the regime. On October 9, Alejandra García, a journalist and partner of Constantín, was subjected to an interrogation by State Security agents after leaving a visit to Kilo 7, during which one of the agents warned her that she could choose between "the easy way or the hard way."
On October 14, Cuban writers, journalists, and artists launched an audiovisual campaign under the slogan "Informing is not a crime" to demand the release of the journalist, founder of La Hora de Cuba, a media outlet that this year received the Civil Rights Defender of the Year award from the Swedish organization Civil Rights Defenders, becoming the first press outlet in the Americas to receive this accolade.
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