(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced deep concern upon learning that independent journalist Lamasiel Gutiérrez Romero, of the Nueva Prensa Cubana news agency, was to be tried before a municipal court in Nueva Gerona (Isle of Youth) on 9 August 2005, on charges of “civil disobedience” and “resisting authorities”. “The Cuban government is once again trying […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced deep concern upon learning that independent journalist Lamasiel Gutiérrez Romero, of the Nueva Prensa Cubana news agency, was to be tried before a municipal court in Nueva Gerona (Isle of Youth) on 9 August 2005, on charges of “civil disobedience” and “resisting authorities”.
“The Cuban government is once again trying to gag journalists who dare to speak the truth about its dictatorial practices,” the organisation said. “After Gutiérrez’s sinister experience of 14 July, no one should be fooled by the trumped-up charge of ‘civil disobedience’.”
RSF learned of Gutiérrez’s trial when she contacted the organisation on 8 August. The charges relate to the events of 14 July, when she was arbitrarily detained for seven hours by three state security agents. She was hit and offered some resistance when the agents began to photograph and film her and take her fingerprints.
When she refused to sign a charge sheet, the police officer who was to be the main prosecution witness at her trial, Eliaves Hernández, told her, “It does not matter, you will be tried all the same.”
While detained, Gutiérrez received a visit from the head of the intelligence services, who told her that since he could not try her for political reasons, he would find another pretext to bring her to trial.
When Gutiérrez attempted to retain a lawyer, the state legal aid lawyer on duty that day told her that since the main prosecution witness was a member of the National Revolutionary Police, she had no chance of finding a lawyer to defend her and that there would be no point anyway.
Gutiérrez faces a sentence ranging from a fine to one or two years’ house arrest. “If I get house arrest, I will not be able to continue my journalistic activities, as my hands will be completely tied,” she told RSF.
