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Follow Up on the Case of Anna Bensi and Her Mother

HAVANA TIMES – I was well aware that the trial on October 1st of Cuban content creator and activist Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente, known as “Anna Bensi,” was going to be neither impartial nor fair, but there were still some naïve people who thought otherwise.

The 21-year-old’s “crime” was posting on social media last March a video recorded from inside her home showing the moment her mother, Caridad Silvente, was served with a summons.

In fact, they posted the video to publicly denounce what they considered an act of harassment and intimidation by the Cuban authorities. They showed the document, which did not specify the reason for the summons—the space was left blank—and the officers who signed it were identified only by their first names, without surnames.

In addition, the motorcyclist who brought the officer concealed his face and flatly refused to identify himself, not to mention that the summons was delivered with less than the 72 hours’ notice required by law in such cases.

According to Yoel Leodan Rabaza Ramos, the Ministry of the Interior (Minint) agent who delivered the summons but was dressed in civilian clothes, the activist violated his privacy by recording him and posting images of him on social media without his consent.

On Thursday, October 1, a Havana court found both women guilty of acts against personal and family privacy for recording and distributing the video of the law enforcement officer. They received sentences that do not involve imprisonment but do impose restrictions, including the obligation to appear before the court whenever summoned to explain their conduct as well as a ban on leaving the country.

The first thing that caught my attention was the significant group of people gathered outside the courtroom to support the two defendants.........

© Havana Times