THE WIFE OF DISSIDENT BICET ARRIVE TO THE COURT HOUSE, 2000-02-25 (photo)

Medical doctor turned activist Oscar Elias Bicet wife Elsa Morejon (C) arrive to the courthouse together with Bicets mother (unidentified) to attend the trial of her husband in Havana, February 25. Cuba put Bicet, a militant anti-Castro dissident, on trial on Friday, and sought to preempt protests by detaining fellow activists, forcing others to stay in their homes and turning away dozens more outside the courthouse. The proceeding was the most important dissident trial on the communist-ruled Caribbean island in about a year, analysts said. Dissidents claim President Castro is using the current high-profile custody dispute over 6-year-old Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez as a smoke screen to hide a crackdown on internal opposition. RP/JP