Havana/The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) demanded that the Cuban Government annul the nine-year prison sentence of the artist and political prisoner Maykel Castillo Osorboas well as investigate his 14-day forced disappearance and reform crimes to punish protest and dissent. Based on a complaint filed by the Prisoners Defenders (PD) organization in 2021, the organization concluded that the regime violated the rights to freedom, integrity, artistic expression, assembly, association, justice and due process of the activist.
In a statement published this Tuesday, PD celebrated the ruling reflected in Report No. 78/26 and noted that the IACHR resolved that the arrest of the co-founder of the San Isidro Movement, on May 18, 2021, was illegal. “Maykel Osorbo He was not committing a crime, he was not in flagrante delicto, there was no evidence of an arrest warrant, there was no proven risk of flight and the provisional detention had not even been issued yet. “He was arrested while having lunch.”
Furthermore, he stressed that “one of the most serious points of the resolution is the forced disappearance” suffered by the artist. The IACHR concluded that between May 18 and 31, 2021, the whereabouts of Maykel Osorbo remained uncertain. “During those 14 days, relatives, family members and defenders sought information at police stations and state agencies without obtaining a real response.” For the commission, by not providing precise information about where he was being held, “the State in practice refused to reveal his whereabouts. This, together with the fact that the detention was carried out by state agents, constitutes forced disappearance.”
“During those 14 days, relatives, family members and defenders sought information at police stations and state agencies without obtaining a real response.”
The organization also indicated that the artist’s subsequent provisional detention was arbitrary. “The Cuban Prosecutor’s Office maintained the deprivation of liberty without justifying a risk of flight or obstruction of the process, and even refused to replace it with a non-detention measure, even recognizing that there was no danger of Maykel leaving Havana, in violation of his personal freedom and the presumption of innocence.”
He also indicated that the criminal process “was a chain of violations.” Castillo was not able to properly meet with his lawyer during a decisive stage. Furthermore, his imprisonment far from Havana hampered his defense, his lawyer was disqualified three days before the trial and another jurist had to assume representation without sufficient preparation time. In addition, the commission noted that the trial was held behind closed doors, preventing access to diplomats and citizens. Therefore, for the IACHR, the Cuban Government “did not guarantee due process or effective defense for Osorbo“, who was sentenced in May 2022 for “contempt, public disorder, attack and defamation of institutions, organizations, heroes and martyrs.”
Prisoners Defenders highlighted that the commission agreed with the core of its complaint: the co-author and interpreter of Homeland and Life, winning song of two Latin Grammys was not imprisoned for committing crimes, but for exercising rights. For this reason, the Madrid-based organization assured that “the nine-year sentence is legally delegitimized,” since the commission concludes that it was the product of a process without guarantees and that it criminally sanctioned conduct protected by human rights.”
The organization demanded that the regime, in addition to annulling the sentence, fully repair the declared violations.
Finally, the organization demanded that the regime, in addition to annulling the sentence, fully repair the declared violations, as well as guarantee physical and mental health care for Osorbohis daughter – who has prevented from visiting to the rapper in prison – and his partner Anamely Ramos.
In addition, he urged a criminal investigation, “diligently and effectively,” into the forced disappearance suffered in 2021; He called for the accountability of the officials involved and to refrain from arresting, prosecuting or condemning the musician again for his activity.
He also asked for guarantees so that a case like this is not repeated, reform provisional detention, ensure real access to the defense, repeal the crime of contempt, modify the crime of public disorder so that it is not used against protests, and refrain from using the crime of attack or other criminal offenses to persecute dissidents, artists and human rights defenders.
