{"id":29544,"date":"2021-12-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/cuban-government-sows-confusion-with-trial-dates-for-detained-pastor-5508\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:05:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T18:05:27","slug":"cuban-government-sows-confusion-with-trial-dates-for-detained-pastor-5508","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/press\/cuban-government-sows-confusion-with-trial-dates-for-detained-pastor-5508\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuban government sows confusion with trial dates for detained pastor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Cuban government has informed the family of Protestant pastor Reverend Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo that his trial will take place on 21, 22 or 23 December. No details about the location of the trial were given to the family or to his lawyer.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reverend Rosales Fajardo, leader of the Monte de Sion Independent Church in Palma Soriano, Cuba, was detained by State Security officers on 11 July while he participated in peaceful protests which took place across the island. He has been imprisoned ever since, and faces charges which include \u2018disrespect\u2019, \u2018assault\u2019, \u2018criminal incitement\u2019 and \u2018public disorder\u2019 for which the government has previously indicated that they are seeking to impose a 10-year prison sentence<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His family was informed<\/a> on 3 December that his trial was to take place on 7, 8 or 9 December, however on 6 December they were told<\/a> that the trial had been suspended indefinitely. CSW believes that the lack of clarity about the trial dates is a government tactic to sow uncertainty and to increase pressure on the pastor and his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW\u2019s Head of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said: \u201cWe call yet again for the immediate and unconditional release of Reverend Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo who is innocent of the charges against him and has now spent five months arbitrarily detained in horrendous conditions. He and his family have experienced a clear pattern of harassment by Cuban State Security for over a decade because of their desire to practice their faith freely<\/i><\/b>.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government\u2019s cynicism in rescheduling his trial for dates so close to Christmas, when the pastor, his family and church should be preparing for celebrations together, is sadly not surprising. The refusal to supply specific details including the exact day, time and location of his trial continues to demonstrate that this will not be a fair or transparent process. We urge the international community to maintain scrutiny and pressure on the Cuban authorities in relation to this case until Reverend Rosales Fajardo is free.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 7 December CSW attempted<\/a> to hand in a 3600-signature petition<\/a> to the Cuban Embassy in London calling for the pastor\u2019s immediate release. Cuban embassy officials refused to receive the petition, and when this and other materials calling for Reverend Rosales Fajardo\u2019s release were delivered under the door, a poster reading \u201cFree Pastor Lorenzo\u2019 was torn up and pushed back outside along with the petition.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cuban government has informed the family of Protestant pastor Reverend Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo that his trial will take place on 21, 22 or 23 December.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":43681,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[140,137],"class_list":["post-29544","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-cuba","regions-latin-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40128,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29544\/revisions\/40128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29544"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=29544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}