Havana/State Security maintains surveillance around the editorial office of 14ymedio this Thursday, foreseeably due to the trial against Anna Sofía Benítez, known as Anna Bensi, and her motherCaridad Silvente. The hearing will take place at 10 at the Popular Municipal Court of Eastern Havana, in Cojímar, Havana. This Wednesday, independent journalist Camila Acosta had already reported an operation at the door of her house through which both she and her husband were prevented from leaving.
Since the influencer and activist announced the date of the trial – which was communicated to her this Monday by her lawyer –, multiple opposition activists have called to mobilize to accompany the two women, even physically on a walk to the judicial headquarters. Among the most notable supports in recent hours is the statement issued by the Baptist Convention Association of Western Cuba, which made a personal defense of both and asked “that the legitimate exercise of truth and transparency should not be criminalized.”
The Evangelical Pentecostal Church of Cuba Assemblies of God also expressed its support for Benítez and Silvente – both well-known Christians – and asked for a fair process in which it is demonstrated that freedoms of conscience and expression are guaranteed, “without fear of unfair reprisals.”
Professor Alina Bárbara López Hernández, a resident of Matanzas, also offered support to Benítez and Silvente in the face of a process that, she affirms, “seeks to intimidate them for their civic stance.” The intellectual claimed the support of society that the two women have received. “Never again will a person who raises his voice in Cuba endure repression alone,” he wrote.
The Evangelical Pentecostal Church of Cuba Assemblies of God also expressed its support for Benítez and Silvente.
Anna Sofía Benítez and Caridad Silvente are accused of “acts against personal and family privacy, one’s own image and voice, the identity of another person and their data.” The events date back to March 10, when a State Security agent showed up at her home to deliver a summons summoning Anna Bensi, presumably to talk about the videos she published on social networks in which she questions the Cuban regime. The two women decided to record and broadcast the event, claiming that it was a security measure.
Two weeks later, Silvente was accused by the agent, who considered her honor violated, and the accusation ended spreading to Anna Bensi when she came to testify on behalf of her mother. Although the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office archive initially the case after the agent withdrew the complaint, the case was reopened on last July 6when he himself retracted and resubmitted the complaint, for unknown reasons.
The trial It was to have been held on September 17, but was initially postponed with no date in sight. The accusation is based on article 393, which punishes with up to two years in prison anyone who “with the purpose of knowing (…) or affecting the privacy or image, voice, data or identity of another person, without their consent, obtains, facilitates, reproduces, discloses, transmits or maintains in their possession a recording or reproduction of sound, photo or video, messages, data or any other information.”
The agent who filed the complaint has requested as a condition for withdrawing it that the accused make a video apologizing for their action, but their defense insists that it is not enough and requests prison for the two women. Anna Bensi has stated in the last hours that he does not hold a grudge against the agent who filed the complaint, since he considers him a piece in the hands of the regime, but he defends his action and has no regrets.
