Yesterday 2pm, police in Puerto Rico arrested noted LGBTQ rights activist Pedro Julio Serrano after his partner accused him of domestic violence. But:

1. Serrano had obtained a restraining order from a judge that morning; [...] https://www.latinorebels.com/2020/07/06/pedrojulio/">https://www.latinorebels.com/2020/07/0...

2. The prosecutors& #39; office has been unavailable to present charges since, and Serrano has been held under arrest for over 24 hours; https://twitter.com/HMujics/status/1280583618163859461">https://twitter.com/HMujics/s...

3. I see credible reports that police are denying him access to a lawyer. https://twitter.com/Marinantillana/status/1280571801475657729">https://twitter.com/Marinanti...

I can& #39;t speak to the accuracy of any charges against Serrano. But independent of that:

• He& #39;s one of right wingers and statehooders& #39;s top enemies, who constantly slander him on TV, radio and online;
• I spot political persecution tactics typical of Puerto Rico& #39;s government.

1. Activist gets arrested
2. "Oh, gee, we can& #39;t reach the prosecutor, you gotta stay overnight"
3. Social media and TV/radio propaganda goes on overdrive to boost the charges
4. PRDoJ assembles a suspiciously large team, prosecutes the case very zealously https://twitter.com/midnucas/status/1175330430091837440">https://twitter.com/midnucas/...

UPDATE: As I wrote this thread, news came out that Serrano will be charged. Police and PRDoJ haven& #39;t said what charges yet. https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/seguridad/notas/someteran-cargos-contra-pedro-julio-serrano/">https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/...

I generally feel uncomfortable writing about cases like this where one risks retroactively defending an abuser, but I come back to this point: the suspicious pattern of political prosecution is independent of whatever the facts of Serrano& #39;s case turn out to be.