By Serge F. Kovaleski
                  Washington Post Foreign Service
 
                  HAVANA, March 1—Four prominent Cuban dissidents went on trial
                  today for sedition in a case that foreign governments and human rights
                  organizations fear could signal a new chapter of repression in this
                  Communist country.

                  A year after the historic visit of Pope John Paul II, whose presence here
                  raised hopes for an easing of restrictions on free expression, the trial
                  opened this morning behind closed doors in a courthouse ringed by
                  security agents who kept foreign journalists, diplomats and other observers
                  several blocks away.

                  The independent Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National
                  Reconciliation said that since Friday authorities had rounded up nearly 40
                  other dissidents and warned an additional 35 to remain at home today in an
                  apparent effort to prevent protests outside the courthouse.

                  "This is a disproportionate response. We have not seen this kind of state
                  security activity in years," said commission spokesman Gerardo Sanchez.

                  The four defendants -- three men and one woman -- were arrested in July
                  1997 for their outspoken opposition to the government of President Fidel
                  Castro. According to charges filed by state prosecutors, the dissidents
                  urged foreign businesses not to invest in the country and called on Cubans
                  not to vote in local elections nor participate in official party organizations.
                  Prosecutors also accused the activists of speaking on Radio Marti, which
                  is run by the U.S. government and opposes Castro's rule. The state is
                  seeking prison sentences of five to six years for the defendants.

                  Sources close to the case said that the accused -- Vladimiro Roca, Marta
                  Beatriz Roque, Felix Bonne and Rene Gomez Manzano -- have not denied
                  their involvement in opposition activities, but insist that they did nothing
                  more than voice their opinions peacefully.

                  Outside the courthouse, Michael G. Kozak, chief of the U.S. Interests
                  Section in Havana, decried the fact that he and others were denied access
                  to the trial.

                  "It is really a shame and shows that the system is ashamed of the process,"
                  he said. Asked if his presence might jeopardize the fate of the dissidents,
                  Kozak responded: "My being here will not hurt anything. I am sure the
                  verdict has already been decided."

                  The trial comes two weeks after Cuba's legislature approved tough new
                  penalties for anyone involved in U.S.-linked political opposition to the
                  Castro government. The measures were approved after President Clinton
                  announced in January that he was easing a long-standing trade embargo
                  against this country of 11 million people, a move that Castro described as
                  a ruse to undermine his rule. In Washington, the State Department said the
                  roundup of activists before the start of a trial proved Cuba's intolerance.

                  "We strongly denounce these actions by the Cuban government, which
                  reveal its utter disregard of the concerns of the international community,
                  which has insisted that the four be released," State Department spokesman
                  James Foley said.

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