Just as Marc Masferrer had denounced two days ago, the Cuban regime mobilized its paramilitary aparatus of repression to prevent opposition activists from attending the sham trial of Dr. Darsi Ferrer.

Yoani Sánchez and Katia Sonia Martin, activist with CID [Cuba Independiente y Democrática or Independent and Democratic Cuba] reported on Twitter [in Spanish] that paramilitary hordes prevented them from reaching the tribunal where the trial was being held. The police also arrested activist Hugo Damian Prieto Blanco and took him to an unknown location.

We will continue to monitor the situation, and share information as it becomes available to us. Please keep checking back with us on this post throughout the day.

UPDATE: in the comments, reader Maria informs that Aini Martin Valero, independent journalist informs from La Habana that she was intercepted by Security of State agents at her own home who rudely, and with obscene words, warned her in front of her children against attending the trial. Other sources in La Habana inform that in addition to Hugo Damian Prieto Blanco, opposition activists Miguel Amado Fonseca, Merardo Maldonado Romero and Jorge Arufe Carbonell were also arrested on their way to the tribunal.

UPDATE II: The Cuban Commission for Assistance to Political Prisoners & Families corrects our previous update:

Via telephone we spoke with Miguel Amado Reyes Fonseca, president of the Commission for Assistance to Political Prisoners & their Families (CAPPF) and Lázaro Prieto Álvarez Director for the Center for Human Rights and Democracy Brigade 2506.

This morning CAPPF and CDHD human rights activists: Miguel Amado Fonseca, Merardo Maldonado Romero, Jorge Arufe Carbonell were detained by State Security Agents while en route to the 10 of October Tribunal to serve as observers in the trial of prisoner of conscience, Dr. Darsi Ferrer.

The activists were threatened and told that if they continued towards the Tribunal they would be arrested and taken to the PNR (National Revolutionary Police) Station.

In the areas adjacent to the Tribunal, there was a large presence of State Security Agents dressed in plain clothes, and Patrol Vehicle No. 341, that customarily patrols the area.

All those who tried to reach the Tribunal were intercepted by these Agents. It is stated that many human rights activists were able to enter the Tribunal despite these acts of harassment.