Cuban dissident leaders slated for trial in late May, activists say

FILE PHOTO: Dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara speaks during an interview at the headquarters of San Isidro Movement in Havana, Cuba, April 6, 2021. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini/File Photo

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban dissident leader Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara is slated to stand trial in a Cuban court at the end of May, activists said on social media this week, in a case that has attracted the attention of human rights groups who allege he and others have been unfairly detained and should be freed.

Cuban authorities have held Otero Alcántara, leader of the San Isidro Movement artist collective and dissident group, in preventative prison for nearly a year on charges including defamation of public institutions and national symbols, contempt and public disorder, according to court documents from March 8 viewed by Reuters.