Three people arrested for blocking telescope construction crews on a mountain held sacred by Native Hawaiians want to testify at their upcoming trials in Hawaiian.

Even though Hawaiian is one of the state’s official languages, court cases are primarily conducted in English, with interpreters provided for those who speak other languages.

The three cases in District Court on Hawaii island were postponed as court officials arrange for interpreters.

During the 2014 fiscal year, there were seven cases that used Hawaiian interpreters, according to the state Judiciary. In fiscal 2010 there were three cases.

For one of the defendants, Kahookahi Kanuha, it’s about defending himself in the language he’s most comfortable speaking.

“It’s been the primary language of my education since preschool,” he said in English. “I speak Hawaiian about 80 percent of my life.”

Kanuha said he’s not the one requesting an interpreter — it’s the judge because she can’t speak Hawaiian.

“I’m proficient in both languages,” he said. “If the courts want to go ahead and send an interpreter, that’s fine. … I should not have to receive permission to speak Hawaiian in court. It is my right.”

According to the most recent Census data available for 2009-2013, 5.7 percent of the state’s residents spoke Hawaiian at home.

Momi Fernandez, of Papa Ola Lokahi, a designated Census Information Center, said that percentage doesn’t fully represent the number of Hawaiian speakers. She said the amount is closer to 30 percent when children and those of all levels of proficiency are counted.

Even though Kanuha said he’s not asking to testify in Hawaiian to prove a point, he said it’s also about honoring the essence of his protest on Mauna Kea, which he described as the “suppression of the Hawaiian identity.”

He was arrested in April and June, when he and other protesters blocked crews attempting to build the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope from accessing the construction site near Mauna Kea’s summit. Opponents cite a range of reasons they are against the project — including curbing development, preventing desecration and asserting Native Hawaiian cultural and religious rights.

“The struggle for Mauna Kea is connected to the struggle of the revitalization of the Hawaiian language,” Kanuha said.