Cuban prosecutors announced on Friday that two dissident artists who participated in anti-government protests had been convicted and sentenced to prison, according to a statement posted on the website of state-run newspaper Granma.
Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty on charges that include desecrating the Cuban flag in his artwork. Otero Alcántara was arrested on July 11, 2021, as anti-government protests spread across the island.
The second artist, Maikel Castillo Pérez, known as Osorbo, was sentenced to nine years in prison after being found guilty of charges that included contempt and public disorder following a fight with police that he tried to stop.
The sentences of three other people convicted in the same trials were also announced by the Cuban Public Ministry in a note published on the Granma website.
Otero Alcántara and Osorbo are members of the San Isidro Movement, a small group of artists and musicians protesting government censorship on the communist-leaning island.
Both Otero Alcántara and Osorbo appeared in the music video for Patria y Vida, an anti-government anthem that harshly criticizes the Cuban authorities. Osorbo also won two Latin Grammys for rhyming parts of the song.
The Cuban government accused the men of receiving US government funds to sow dissent on the island.
According to Amnesty International, both are listed as prisoners of conscience.
Source: CNN Brasil
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