A retired US State Department employee and his wife, who are charged
with spying for Cuba, have been denied bail by a court in Washington DC.
US Magistrate John Facciola deemed the pair, both in their 70s, a flight
risk after prosecutors showed they were planning a Caribbean sailing
holiday.
Walter Kendall Myers and his wife are accused of having passed on
information to Cuba for three decades.
The pair deny the charges but face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
Defence lawyers had argued that the pair should be fitted with
monitoring devices and allowed to return home to be with their children,
the Associated Press news agency reported.
But prosecutor Michael Harvey told Judge Facciola that the couple, who
own a yacht, were "plainly a serious flight risk" and should remain in
jail until their court date.
He said a calendar in their home showed a date marked as the start of a
sailing trip, with no return date indicated.
FBI sting
Investigators also found sailing charts for Cuban waters in the home, AP
quoted Mr Harvey as saying.
Mr Harvey said that if the couple were able to reach Cuba, they would
present "a real and present danger to the United States".
"The Myerses would be greeted as heroes there. They would not be coming
back," he said.
Defence lawyer Thomas Green did not comment as he left the courtroom but
said his team would "keep plugging along".
The couple's arrest followed a sting operation by the FBI, in which an
agent posing as a Cuban spy persuaded the couple to give him information
about their activities.
During a subsequent meeting, Mr and Mrs Myers agreed to provide
information about US government personnel to the undercover agent, the
affidavit alleges.
They also made statements about their past activities for the Cuban
government, it says.
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said he had met the couple in 1995, but
has dismissed the allegations against them as a "ridiculous tale".
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/8093710.stm
Published: 2009/06/10 15:34:21 GMT
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US denies bail for Cuba 'spies' (10 June 2009)
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8093710.stm?ad=1
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