Dave Sherwood

HAVANA (Reuters). Two prominent Cuban dissident artists faced their first day in court Monday. They were detained almost a year ago as part of a continuing judicial process human rights groups call a “circus” or a “farce.”

Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, Maykel Castillo and Maykel Castillo are both prominent members of San Isidro Movement in Havana. This collective of artists led protests against repression before most of them fled Cuba.

Otero alcantara, who is charged with defaming, contempt, and public disorder in the country, faces seven years of imprisonment, according to a March 8, court filing. Reuters obtained the March 8 court filing. Castillo, a hip-hop artist also known by Osorbo has been accused of assault and will spend 10 years behind bars, according the court document.

Both Otero Alcantara and Castillo appeared in the music video for ´Patria y Vida,´ a defiant hip-hop song that became the unofficial “anthem” for widespread anti-government protests last July 11, believed to be the largest since Fidel Castro´s 1959 revolution.

From the early hours of Monday morning, security and police officers surrounded Havana’s courthouse. A small group of family was allowed access to the courthouse, an official from Cuba´s International Press Center told Reuters.

After asking for permission to observe and enter the proceedings, representatives from several European embassies in Havana, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the Czech Republic, gathered around a block of the courthouse, waiting almost two hours.

A representative of the German Embassy said that “we were not permitted to enter” the courthouse before he left. He declined to identify the reason for the refusal of access and asked to remain anonymous.

The diplomat stated, “We want the human rights to been respected everywhere and in every country.”

Cuban officials did not respond immediately to our request for information on the trials or to explain the reasons why they had restricted access to the courts.

Cuban state media (including Granma), have named Castillo’s San Isidro Movement and Otero Alcantara as part of an American-directed “softcoup” attempt. They deny the charges.

The case of these two men has become an icon for activists and human right groups who claim that Cuban authorities have increased their repression following the demonstrations of July last year.

Human Rights Watch called last week’s trials against Otero Castillo and Otero Alcantara a “farce,” while Amnesty International called it a “circus.”

Cuba claims that all those held before or after July 11th protests were given fair trials in compliance with Cuban law.

The streets around the courthouse were quiet during the rest of the day. Friends and activists of several men claimed that the state had placed them under surveillance and they were prohibited from going home.

Maritza Herrera, aged 66, stated that she traveled to express her support for Otero Alcantara, and Castillo. Her statement was that others weren’t allowed to do it, or didn’t dare.

“They know that if they arrive here, they will be put in a patrol car and taken away to a {police} station. That´s why they’re not here,” she said.