Cuban artist Hiram Cartaya denounced that during the trial against seven defendants for protesting in Bejucal, Mayabeque province, on 11J, the official Prosecutor's Office said "slander without evidence or foundations" against the young art student Abel González Lescay, to whom the regime asks for seven years in prison.
"I have just testified as a defense witness in the trial of the musician and poet Abel González Lescay. I concentrated on denying a series of slander without evidence or foundations provided by the Prosecutor's Office," he denounced on his Facebook wall.
"To the real and unjustifiable facts of Abel's conduct in 9/11 they added falsehoods, such as that he was wearing valuable jewelry, meeting with bad elements, taking drugs, etc. They tried to paint him as an antisocial being who is not of any way," he said.
The main evidence of the Prosecutor's Office against González Lescay is a video taken during the protest where he is seen rapping against police officers. However, he is accused of "contempt of the basic figure", "contempt of the aggravated figure" and "public disorder".
"In the final conclusions, the Prosecutor's Office maintained its request for seven years of deprivation of liberty with internment, which contrasts with the change in the request it made to a young son of a former president of Popular Power in Bejucal, to whom they withdrew the request for internment," he said, without mentioning details of that case.
"Now we have to wait until February 24, when the sentence will be handed down. I want to highlight and thank the courage and sense of justice of the excellent musician and educator Juan Piñera, who despite his advanced age and having recently suffered a heart attack , traveled the long distance from Havana to San José de las Lajas to testify in defense of his musical composition student," he concluded.
Piñera, head of the Music Department at the Higher Institute of Art (ISA), where Lescay studies, is one of the most renowned Cuban creators. He is the nephew of the Cuban writer Virgilio Piñera.
González Lescay confirmed what Cartaya referred to. In several posts on his own wall, he commented: "The prosecutor put a lot of emphasis on me, but my lawyer defended me very well. (...) In my opinion, no serious crime was proven, other than the offense against a police officer on my part, some isolated stones to the pharmacy, and the waving of some flags. I think it has been shown that we are people of good social conduct, several of us study, and none of them have a criminal record."
Later, given the criticism he has received for some false profiles, he stressed: "Offending a police officer or throwing a stone is a serious crime on the same day that the police are shooting and batting at everyone. Very serious crime It is the torture that they did to my brothers in prison. You can read my testimony".
González Lescay, 23, was forcibly taken from his home in Bejucal by the Police at dawn on July 12, 2021, the day after popular demonstrations in his town. The officers did not even let him get dressed and he remained naked in prison until they gave him a tablecloth to cover himself, and later an inmate uniform.
During the days he was in prison, he received beatings and verbal abuse, as well as contracting Covid-19 while he was in the San José de las Lajas Technician and in another place, where he was taken after testing positive for the disease. His personal testimony with the details of that experience was published in Rialta Magazine.
Since he was released on July 18, González Lescay has been under "home confinement."
In dialogue with DIARIO DE CUBA, he commented: "I intend to go to that trial and let them do whatever they want. I am going to assume the years that they decide to put me in jail as a spiritual retreat. I don't know you can expect logic from that process. I understand that the things that happen in life are part of destiny and you have to accept them as they are. It's a pain to have them do that to your life, but I'm not going to be the first or the last political prisoner," he said.
"When my trial was postponed last year, I didn't think it was good news. My case has been very visible compared to the hundreds who are in jail. If I don't get jailed, it's going to be a victory that will overshadow the number of people in prison," said González Lescay.
"What makes me calm is that the more atrocities they commit, the faster we get out of them. So I want them to put me in jail, so that the visibility I have helps them realize what's going on." happening," he said.