Released : Thursday, June 12, 2008 12:27 PM
Havana, Jun 12 (EFE).- Cuba wants the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an
appeal of the convictions of five Cuban intelligence agents sentenced in
2001 for espionage and other offenses, Communist Party daily Granma
reported Thursday.
"We're going to appeal to the full Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta
and to the Supreme Court of the U.S.," Cuban parliament speaker Ricardo
Alarcon told lawmakers, according to the newspaper.
Alarcon commented one day after he and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez
Roque presided over a protest outside the U.S. Interests Section in
Havana by hundreds of students and workers along with relatives of the
"Cuban Five."
On June 4, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
in Atlanta rejected as "meritless" an appeal lodged on behalf of Gerardo
Hernandez; Ruben Campa, also known as Fernando Gonzalez; Rene Gonzalez;
Luis Medina, aka Ramon Labañino; and Antonio Guerrero.
The judges also confirmed the sentences of Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez,
while ordering the trial court to reconsider the penalties imposed on
the other three in light of a subsequent finding that they had not
gathered "top secret" information.
Hernandez is serving two life sentences, one for espionage and the other
for his ostensible role in the 1996 downing by Cuban MiGs of two
civilian airplanes belonging to the Miami-based exile group Brothers to
the Rescue, four of whose members were killed in the incident over
international waters.
Rene Gonzalez received a 15-year jail term for espionage and for failing
to register as a foreign agent.
But the appellate panel threw out the life sentences handed down to
Medina and Guerrero and the 19-year prison term imposed on Campa.
Alarcon said Wednesday that the upholding of the sentences imposed on
Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez was "not by chance," since the first was
convicted of conspiracy to commit murder - "which provides the political
element" - and the second infiltrated the "terrorist organization
Brothers to the Rescue."
"We will appeal," the parliament speker said. "We intend to use all the
elements and arguments."
Justice Department prosecutors said the five men spied on U.S. military
installations in Florida as well as infiltrated Cuban exile organizations.
The defendants admitted to being agents of the Cuban government, but
insisted their only mission in the United States was monitoring the
anti-Castro "terrorists" they said supported a 1997 series of hotel
bombings in Havana that left an Italian tourist dead and 12 other people
injured.
In August 2006, the 11th Circuit denied a request from the Cuban Five
for a new trial based on defense attorneys' claim that they did not get
a fair hearing in Miami, center of the Cuban exile community.
That ruling came a year after a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit
overturned the spies' convictions, citing the "prejudices" of Miami's
fervently anti-Castro Cubans.
Havana, which regards the five as heroes, has complained bitterly about
their incarceration as well as the refusal of U.S. authorities to permit
visits by the men's families. EFE
jlp/dr
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