BBC News. Friday, 25 February, 2000, 18:49 GMT

A court in Cuba has sentenced a leading dissident, Oscar Elias Biscet, to three years in prison for insulting the national flag, public disorder and inciting crime.

Mr Biscet was convicted on all counts after a four-hour hearing in Havana. Prosecutors had been seeking a seven-year prison term. He was arrested last year after turning a Cuban flag upside down at a rally.

In court, Mr Biscet said that his actions were non-violent and intended only to seek respect for freedom of expression and religion.

Outside the courtroom there was a large presence of plainclothes police and more than twenty dissidents were either detained or ordered to stay at home. Mr Biscet is the most prominent dissident to be tried since last March, when four other opposition leaders were given lengthy jail sentences for inciting sedition.

Two other dissidents were tried at the same time: one received a one-year sentence; the other was released.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

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