The trials of Cuban artists and opponents, Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and Maykel Castillo, who have been jailed since last year, began on Monday in Havana, activists and co-creators reported.

The Prosecutor’s Office requested seven years in prison for Otero Alcantara and 10 for rapper Castillo – also known as Osorbo – and the trial is expected to last until Tuesday, art curator Claudia Genlui told The Associated Press.

A police guard and a group of half a dozen European diplomats waiting to enter the courtroom have been at the door of the Marianao court since Monday morning, the AP reported. In cases like this, access is usually restricted so that only family members can enter.

Plastic artist Julio Llopiz-Casal is one of the witnesses in Otero Alcantara’s defense.

“I went with artist Lázaro Saavedra, who is a winner of the national plastic art award, to talk from an art point of view about what performance is and what Luis Manuel’s credentials are,” Llopiz-Casal told AP. that he was in a room where there was a judge, several judges and the Prosecutor’s panel, as well as lawyers.

According to Llopiz-Casal, defense lawyers said during the trial that the trial had “started on the basis that Luis Manuel is not an artist, but a criminal,” in which he summoned other artists to testify, seeking to demonstrate that Otero Alcantara was a creator.

Otero Alcantara, 34, rose to prominence after staging plays with Cuban flags—some considered disrespectful on the island—which caused controversy earlier this decade and for leading a movement against the government called San Isidro—where he lives. — , who in 2020 starred in a demonstration that ended with the artist’s unusual sit-in in front of the Ministry of Culture.

Osorbo, 39, was one of the composers of the song with strong political connotations entitled “Patria y Vida” which won this year’s Latin Grammy award, and it became something of a song for critics of the island’s government after the unusual protests in July 2021. The title is a twist. from the official phrase “Motherland or Death!”

There was no comment on the AP’s request to Cuban authorities about the judicial process, however, on previous occasions where the two artists have been brought to justice, the government has indicated that they have been prosecuted for acts punishable under current law and not for their political ideas.

Both figures are linked to the protests that took place on the island in July 2021—in the midst of a pandemic and in the context of a strong economic crisis, shortages and power outages. However, neither of them had clear leadership and they did not participate in it.

Otero Alcantara was arrested before arriving at a demonstration in July and charged with the crime of public nuisance related to community activities he carried out with children in April 2021. Osorbo has been in prison since May 2021, accused of insulting and resisting authorities in the same cause.

Last week curator and activist Genlui published a message from Otero Alcantara in which he thanked the support for his cause and all the “political prisoners”.

“In these months the regime has given me exile outside Cuba as the only way out of prison, otherwise I would have spent seven years in prison,” said Otero Alcantara.

The cause attracted international attention.

On Monday, diplomats from Norway, Sweden, Britain, the Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands appeared before the court. The representatives indicated that they had asked the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs to attend an oral hearing, but they were not allowed.

Last week, the organizations Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International described the judicial process as a “joke”.

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Andrea Rodríguez is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ARodriguezAP