Free the Cuban Five!
posted by F Espinoza | 10.06.2008 11:18 | Social Struggles | Terror War | London
A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals of Atlanta upheld Wednesday the guilty verdicts of the Cuban Five, prisoners in the United States since 1998...
Free the Cuban Five!
Attorney Leonard Weinglass:
"There are 40 pages of ideological prejudice in the
new ruling from Atlanta"
ARLEEN RODRIGUEZ DERIVET
A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals of Atlanta upheld Wednesday the guilty verdicts of the Cuban Five, prisoners in the United States since 1998. It also vacated the sentences of three of the men, ordering a new sentencing in Miami. The sentences of Rene Gonzalez (15 years) and Gerardo Hernandez (two life terms plus 15 years) were maintained. In the case of Hernandez, the panel voted 2-1. A 16-page [minority] opinion of Judge Phyllis Kravitch states that the government did not present sufficient evidence to prove Gerardo’s guilt in the charge of conspiracy to commit murder.
The cases of Ramon Labanino (life sentence plus 18 years), Fernando Gonzalez (19 years) and Antonio Guerrero (life sentence plus 10 years) were sent to the Florida Court for re-sentencing. It will be Judge Joan Lenard who will announce a hearing to issue the new sentencing. Lenard was the presiding judge who, in 2001, issued the harsh sentences to the Cuban Five. The 99-page ruling of the Appeals Court of Atlanta, which explicitly favors the government position, was drafted in a politically charged language unusual for legal texts. It states that the defense arguments in their appeal "are meritless."
On Thursday June 5 an interview by Arleen Rodriguez with attorney Leonard Weinglass was broadcast on the Round Table program. Weinglass represents Antonio Guerrero and is a member of the Cuban Five defense team. A translation of the text in Spanish follows (Weinglass’ answers were originally in English and translated into Spanish):
Arleen Rodriguez.— Weinglass, help us understand. Give us a summary of the 99-page ruling from the Court of Appeals of Atlanta.
Leonard Weinglass.— What it means in brief is that the life sentences of two, Antonio and Ramon, were removed and there is a program for their re-sentencing in Miami before Judge Lenard. The sentence of Fernando is going to be reduced.
AR.— But Ramon and Antonio have different charges than Fernando. What does it mean that the three be returned to Miami and what can we expect?
LW.— When the Cuban Five were arrested in 1998, the Pentagon and the Justice Department issued a statement saying that the national security of the United States was not affected. Now, after 10 years in prison, we have a statement from a high level court that there was no espionage and that no top secret information was obtained or transmitted. That was the court’s finding, but nonetheless they returned the cases for re-sentencing and we are not sure what the new sentence will be; but it won’t be, in this case, life imprisonment, and they could even return home.
AR.— Why isn’t Gerardo included in the revision?
LW.— All the lawyers coincide that Gerardo’s case was easier and could have been thrown out. However, even though the case is easy from a legal point of view, from a political viewpoint it’s the most difficult, because of the political climate that exists in Miami. The court didn’t have the nerve to drop a sentence for conspiracy to murder when four Miami residents were the victims.
AR.— Does the fact that the Court of Appeals of Atlanta decided to return the case of Ramon, Fernando and Antonio to Miami mean they were excessive in sentencing, which is evidence of poor conduct. Isn’t it absurd then that they return the case to the same judge that imposed the harsh sentences?
LW.— It’s unfortunate.
In this 99-page ruling, they find that Judge Lenard committed errors in sentencing Fernando; committed errors in sentencing Antonio; committed errors in sentencing Ramon; committed errors in the instructions to the jury about Gerardo and, according two of the three judges, committed errors in rejecting a change of venue.
Despite those six or seven serious errors, the court returns the case to Judge Lenard.
AR.— What legal recourse remains?
LW.— Yes, we still have options available. Firstly, we can immediately, on June 24, ask the three judges to reconsider their decision based on the errors they committed in their ruling, and we are going to do it.
If they don’t reconsider this reasoning then we have the right to go to the Supreme Court of the United States to reconsider all or some of the issues we have presented, including the venue, the misconduct of the prosecution, the insufficient evidence in the case of Gerardo and other matters that this court has ruled on, including the use of a secret procedure between the judge and prosecution against the Cuban Five and also having maintained secret evidence that could have been delivered to the defense.
AR.— This ruling comes at a time when the people of the United States are immersed in a presidential election campaign and perhaps are not paying attention to other matters, like the case of the Cuban Five or another, the possibly pardoning of Luis Posada Carriles, who is already free on the streets of Miami. I wonder if the defense team has taken into account the double standard of the US government in relation to terrorism, which is apparent in the handling of the Cuban Five case and the freeing of a confessed terrorist like Luis Posada Carriles. Do the lawyers take that into account in their appeals?
LW.— In reality, that contradiction, which is very clear in the facts you mention, is not available to us in the texts of the legal case. However, in the original ruling of the first panel that we appealed to, they signed a special footnote, in which they refer to Carriles and call him a terrorist. Unfortunately, in this 99-page opinion there are no such references.
AR.— The ruling came on June 4, Gerardo’s birthday. The fact that the Appeals Court upheld the sentence of one of the weakest charges in the case, that of conspiracy to commit murder, and in general the charges against Gerardo, appears to be a deliberate act of cruelty against this young anti-terrorist fighter. How do you see it?
LW.— Perhaps this wasn’t an accident. People see it as an insensitive intent against a man who honorably served his country. However, when you read the entire ruling they issued, in particular the first 40 pages, it is very clear to us attorneys that there is an ideological prejudice in the writing. And the fact they issued the ruling on Gerardo’s birthday could be seen, as you suggest, as intentional.
AR.— What reasons could a lawyer like yourself give us so we can continue believing that there is a possibility that justice will triumph in the US legal system in the case of the Cuban Five?
LW.— Unfortunately, this case is one of those situations where I believe that the US government is using the justice system to achieve a foreign policy objective. That’s the difference with the case of Posada Carriles, between the case of Posada Carriles and this case.
Historically, when this has happened and a political prejudice is revealed, the US people feel a great sense of embarrassment in the laws and the trust they place in their legal system, in the courts.
AR.— How would you summarize in one sentence the ruling issued on June 4?
LW.— Gerardo should have been freed of all charges and the rest of the life sentences reversed as an absolute minimum.
So, we won a small part of the case at this moment, but the matter of the venue is still alive and we are going to present it again before the Supreme Court, and fortunately, we are going to begin the initial work so that the Cuban Five can return home.
We are prepared to continue the struggle and, with luck we will achieve it, like we did before, and like we are going to do and must do in the future.
We won the revocation of the life sentences, and that is a significant victory; but we are very disappointed that we didn’t win on the prosecution’s weakest case, and we should have won it.
AR.— Which is charge three?
LW.— Yes, charge three.
Any attorney studying the charge, including prosecutors, have concluded that a sentence should not have been issued on the base of the evidence presented. One of the judges wrote a 16-page opinion and very clearly, and in a very strong way, said that Gerardo was innocent of those charges. That’s a strong statement and quite unusual for an 85-year-old judge who has been a federal appeals magistrate for nearly a quarter of a century.
That was a historic action by the judge, including on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder. Her position is just below the Supreme Court and she is one of the most recognized leaders of the US justice system.
AR.— Your talking about Judge Kravitch.
LW.— Yes, Kravitch.
She was appointed by [former US President] Carter, a man who believes more in human rights than most of the other national leaders. He choose her from a very small court in Georgia where she practiced law, despite having graduated at the top of her class at one of the most prestigious law schools in the United States. But she wasn’t working in any law firm because she was a woman. Therefore, she clearly understands the price that people have to pay when they are victims of prejudice, and I believe that she contributes this in her work as a judge.
AR.— Thank you for speaking with our Round Table.
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art01.html
Response to Court Ruling on Cuban Five Appeal
June 5, 2008
Reprinted from Daily Granma
On Wednesday June 4th, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced its ruling in the appeal case for the Cuban Five.
In the 99-page opinion, the three-judge panel unanimously upheld the convictions against the Five Cuban Patriots. The court also upheld the sentences given to René González (15 years) and Gerardo Hernández (two life sentences plus 15 years).
The court’s ruling on Gerardo’s sentence, however, was not unanimous: 2 to 1. On page 16 of the written opinion, Judge Phyllis Kravitch states that the government did not present sufficient evidence to convict Gerardo of conspiracy to commit murder.
The sentences of Ramón Labañino (life plus 18 years); Fernando González (19 years) and Antonio Guerrero (life plus 10 years) were returned to Judge Joan Lenard’s Florida court for re-sentencing. Lenard will need to call for a hearing to issue the new ruling — this is the same judge who imposed the excessive and unjust sentences in 2001.
The Atlanta Appeals Court’s written opinion, which employs startling political rhetoric, states that the defense’s arguments lacked merit and clearly favors the government.
The court’s ruling exposes various contradictions between the opinions of two of the justices and the author of the opinion, Judge William H. Pryor, an ultraconservative appointed to the bench with the help of Republican John McCain despite opposition from the Senate.
The defense attorneys, Weinglass, MacKenna and Horowitz, ensured they will continue the legal battle that began in December 2001 when they were unjustly sentences. There are still some legal avenues open.
Given the United States’ governments’ legal ploys to expand the sentences of our Five Brothers, we are not surprised by the judicial ruling. On the contrary, it reaffirms our need to continue fighting tirelessly to denounce this colossal injustice.
Exposed once again is the contempt of the United States government, which yesterday, in another U.S. city, defended the criminal Luis Posada Carriles. A man who, rather than fittingly declaring him a terrorist for his crimes against humanity and extraditing him to Venezuela where the government has declared Carriles a fugitive and repeatedly demanded his extradition, the U.S. government has granted him full liberty.
Gerardo is not surprised by the ruling. "This is the same system that has unjustly incarcerated Mumia for more than 20 years along with Leonard Peltier and the Puerto Rican political prisoners," he said today. "We will endure as many years as necessary, 30, 40, whatever it takes. As long as one of you is resisting, we will also resist until there is justice."
Gerardo has asked that we communicate his confidence to all of you, "For anyone who asks, tell them I am fine, strong and always looking forward."
Along with all of our friends around the world we call for mobilizations beginning on the morning of June 6, in front of all headquarters of the terrorist U.S. government —in Europe, Latin America and the U.S. — which holds our Five Brothers imprisoned.
Only solidarity, constant condemnation and international mobilization will secure freedom for the Five.
International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five
http://www.freethefive.org/updates/CubanMedia/CMIntlCtteAppeals060608.htm
National Lawyers Guild Says Politics Motivated Decision In Cuban Five Case
Two Judges on Three-Judge Panel Uphold Conspiracy to Commit Murder Conviction Despite Government’s Lack of Evidence
June 5, 2008
Reprinted from National Lawyers Guild
New York. The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) believes that politics influenced yesterday’s federal appeals court decision upholding the convictions of five Cuban patriots accused of spying in the United States. The so-called Cuban Five were gathering information on U.S.-based exile groups planning terrorist actions against their island nation.
The court did, however, vacate the sentences of three of the Five, including two serving life terms. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals returned the three cases to a federal judge in Miami for re-sentencing based on findings that the three men had gathered no classified information.
The full 11th Circuit court in August 2006 upheld the convictions of the Five: Gerardo Hernández , Fernando González , René González , Ramon Labañino, and Antonio Guerrero. It rejected claims that their federal trial should have been moved out of Miami because widespread opposition to the Cuban government among Cuban-Americans would make it impossible to get a fair and impartial jury.
In the appeal ruled on yesterday, the Five challenged rulings on the suppression of evidence from searches conducted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, sovereign immunity, discovery procedures, jury selection, prosecutorial and witness misconduct, jury instructions, sufficiency of the evidence to support their convictions, and sentencing.
In this latest decision, the panel voted 2-1 to affirm the life sentence for Gerardo Hernández, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of four Miami-based pilots shot down by Cuban jets in 1996. In her 16-page dissent, Judge Phyllis Kravich wrote that the government failed to present evidence sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hernández agreed to participate in a conspiracy to shoot down planes over international airspace, resulting in the deaths of four pilots from an anti-Castro organization, Brothers to the Rescue. The panel also affirmed Rene González's 15-year sentence for acting as a non-registered foreign agent and conspiracy to act as a non- registered foreign agent.
The panel vacated the life terms of Labañino and Guerrero, agreeing with their contentions that their sentences were improperly configured because no "top secret information was gathered or transmitted." The judges also vacated Fernando González's 19-year sentence because he was not a manager or supervisor of the network. The panel remanded these cases to the district court for re-sentencing.
After a trial that lasted six months, the Five were convicted in 2001 of acting as unregistered Cuban agents in the United States and of conspiracy to commit espionage for attempting to penetrate U.S. military bases. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit overturned the convictions in 2005, saying there should have been a change of venue. But the full court reversed that decision, 10-2.
"Conspiracy has always been the charge used by the prosecution in political cases," said NLG attorney Leonard Weinglass, who represents Guerrero. "In the case of the Five, the Miami jury was asked to find that there was an agreement to commit espionage. The government never had to prove that espionage actually happened. It could not have proven that espionage occurred. None of the Five sought or possessed any top secret information or US national defense secrets," Weinglass added. "The sentence for the conspiracy charge is the same as if espionage were actually committed and proven. That is how three got life sentences. The major charges in this case were all conspiracy related, the most serious being conspiracy to commit murder levied against Gerardo Hernández."
"Anti-Cuba sentiment has tainted all possibility of a fair trial for the Five since their original arrest and confinement, which the UN Rapporteur on Torture described as violating the Convention Against Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment," said NLG Executive Director Heidi Boghosian. "During the original trial, the Bush administration paid journalists to write unfavorable stories about Cuba. Anti-Cuban extremists tried to intimidate the jurors, and even prospective jurors admitted that they would be afraid to return not-guilty verdicts against the Five."
"For nearly 50 years, anti-Cuba terrorist organizations based in Miami have engaged in countless terrorist activities against Cuba," said NLG President Marjorie Cohn. "In the face of this terrorism, the Cuban Five were gathering intelligence in Miami in order to prevent future terrorist acts against Cuba."
Founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, which did not admit people of color, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.
http://www.freethefive.org/updates/USMedia/USMNLGAppeals060508.htm
- Press Conference on the Appeals Court Decision:
http://www.freethefive.org/updates/Comuniques/COPressConf060508.htm
- Press Conference demanding extradition of Luis Posada Carriles:
http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr009=v3scjy4qsb.app8a&abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=8819&news_iv_ctrl=1621
- CUBA proves links of U.S. Diplomats with Terrorists:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/05/97358.html
- CUBA: Posada Carriles, un asesino en serie:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/06/97753.html
See also:
http://www.antiterroristas.cu
http://www.antiterroristas.cu/index.php?tpl=./interface.en/design/home.tpl.html
http://www.freethefive.org
http://www.thecuban5.org
http://www.wicuba.org
http://www.granma.cu/miami5/ingles/index.html
http://www.freeforfive.org/fr/home.html
http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr009=v3scjy4qsb.app8a&abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=8815&news_iv_ctrl=1621
http://www.cubainformacion.tv
In Great Britain and Ireland:
http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/
http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/cubasi.asp
http://www.ratb.org.uk/
http://www.cubansarecoming.org/
http://www.cubasol-manch.org.uk/
http://www.cymru-cuba.cjb.net/
http://www.cubasupport.com/
http://www.blackpoolandfyldecsc.org.uk/
http://uk.geocities.com/cscsheffield/
http://uk.geocities.com/cscsheffield/page6.html
Attorney Leonard Weinglass:
"There are 40 pages of ideological prejudice in the
new ruling from Atlanta"
ARLEEN RODRIGUEZ DERIVET
A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals of Atlanta upheld Wednesday the guilty verdicts of the Cuban Five, prisoners in the United States since 1998. It also vacated the sentences of three of the men, ordering a new sentencing in Miami. The sentences of Rene Gonzalez (15 years) and Gerardo Hernandez (two life terms plus 15 years) were maintained. In the case of Hernandez, the panel voted 2-1. A 16-page [minority] opinion of Judge Phyllis Kravitch states that the government did not present sufficient evidence to prove Gerardo’s guilt in the charge of conspiracy to commit murder.
The cases of Ramon Labanino (life sentence plus 18 years), Fernando Gonzalez (19 years) and Antonio Guerrero (life sentence plus 10 years) were sent to the Florida Court for re-sentencing. It will be Judge Joan Lenard who will announce a hearing to issue the new sentencing. Lenard was the presiding judge who, in 2001, issued the harsh sentences to the Cuban Five. The 99-page ruling of the Appeals Court of Atlanta, which explicitly favors the government position, was drafted in a politically charged language unusual for legal texts. It states that the defense arguments in their appeal "are meritless."
On Thursday June 5 an interview by Arleen Rodriguez with attorney Leonard Weinglass was broadcast on the Round Table program. Weinglass represents Antonio Guerrero and is a member of the Cuban Five defense team. A translation of the text in Spanish follows (Weinglass’ answers were originally in English and translated into Spanish):
Arleen Rodriguez.— Weinglass, help us understand. Give us a summary of the 99-page ruling from the Court of Appeals of Atlanta.
Leonard Weinglass.— What it means in brief is that the life sentences of two, Antonio and Ramon, were removed and there is a program for their re-sentencing in Miami before Judge Lenard. The sentence of Fernando is going to be reduced.
AR.— But Ramon and Antonio have different charges than Fernando. What does it mean that the three be returned to Miami and what can we expect?
LW.— When the Cuban Five were arrested in 1998, the Pentagon and the Justice Department issued a statement saying that the national security of the United States was not affected. Now, after 10 years in prison, we have a statement from a high level court that there was no espionage and that no top secret information was obtained or transmitted. That was the court’s finding, but nonetheless they returned the cases for re-sentencing and we are not sure what the new sentence will be; but it won’t be, in this case, life imprisonment, and they could even return home.
AR.— Why isn’t Gerardo included in the revision?
LW.— All the lawyers coincide that Gerardo’s case was easier and could have been thrown out. However, even though the case is easy from a legal point of view, from a political viewpoint it’s the most difficult, because of the political climate that exists in Miami. The court didn’t have the nerve to drop a sentence for conspiracy to murder when four Miami residents were the victims.
AR.— Does the fact that the Court of Appeals of Atlanta decided to return the case of Ramon, Fernando and Antonio to Miami mean they were excessive in sentencing, which is evidence of poor conduct. Isn’t it absurd then that they return the case to the same judge that imposed the harsh sentences?
LW.— It’s unfortunate.
In this 99-page ruling, they find that Judge Lenard committed errors in sentencing Fernando; committed errors in sentencing Antonio; committed errors in sentencing Ramon; committed errors in the instructions to the jury about Gerardo and, according two of the three judges, committed errors in rejecting a change of venue.
Despite those six or seven serious errors, the court returns the case to Judge Lenard.
AR.— What legal recourse remains?
LW.— Yes, we still have options available. Firstly, we can immediately, on June 24, ask the three judges to reconsider their decision based on the errors they committed in their ruling, and we are going to do it.
If they don’t reconsider this reasoning then we have the right to go to the Supreme Court of the United States to reconsider all or some of the issues we have presented, including the venue, the misconduct of the prosecution, the insufficient evidence in the case of Gerardo and other matters that this court has ruled on, including the use of a secret procedure between the judge and prosecution against the Cuban Five and also having maintained secret evidence that could have been delivered to the defense.
AR.— This ruling comes at a time when the people of the United States are immersed in a presidential election campaign and perhaps are not paying attention to other matters, like the case of the Cuban Five or another, the possibly pardoning of Luis Posada Carriles, who is already free on the streets of Miami. I wonder if the defense team has taken into account the double standard of the US government in relation to terrorism, which is apparent in the handling of the Cuban Five case and the freeing of a confessed terrorist like Luis Posada Carriles. Do the lawyers take that into account in their appeals?
LW.— In reality, that contradiction, which is very clear in the facts you mention, is not available to us in the texts of the legal case. However, in the original ruling of the first panel that we appealed to, they signed a special footnote, in which they refer to Carriles and call him a terrorist. Unfortunately, in this 99-page opinion there are no such references.
AR.— The ruling came on June 4, Gerardo’s birthday. The fact that the Appeals Court upheld the sentence of one of the weakest charges in the case, that of conspiracy to commit murder, and in general the charges against Gerardo, appears to be a deliberate act of cruelty against this young anti-terrorist fighter. How do you see it?
LW.— Perhaps this wasn’t an accident. People see it as an insensitive intent against a man who honorably served his country. However, when you read the entire ruling they issued, in particular the first 40 pages, it is very clear to us attorneys that there is an ideological prejudice in the writing. And the fact they issued the ruling on Gerardo’s birthday could be seen, as you suggest, as intentional.
AR.— What reasons could a lawyer like yourself give us so we can continue believing that there is a possibility that justice will triumph in the US legal system in the case of the Cuban Five?
LW.— Unfortunately, this case is one of those situations where I believe that the US government is using the justice system to achieve a foreign policy objective. That’s the difference with the case of Posada Carriles, between the case of Posada Carriles and this case.
Historically, when this has happened and a political prejudice is revealed, the US people feel a great sense of embarrassment in the laws and the trust they place in their legal system, in the courts.
AR.— How would you summarize in one sentence the ruling issued on June 4?
LW.— Gerardo should have been freed of all charges and the rest of the life sentences reversed as an absolute minimum.
So, we won a small part of the case at this moment, but the matter of the venue is still alive and we are going to present it again before the Supreme Court, and fortunately, we are going to begin the initial work so that the Cuban Five can return home.
We are prepared to continue the struggle and, with luck we will achieve it, like we did before, and like we are going to do and must do in the future.
We won the revocation of the life sentences, and that is a significant victory; but we are very disappointed that we didn’t win on the prosecution’s weakest case, and we should have won it.
AR.— Which is charge three?
LW.— Yes, charge three.
Any attorney studying the charge, including prosecutors, have concluded that a sentence should not have been issued on the base of the evidence presented. One of the judges wrote a 16-page opinion and very clearly, and in a very strong way, said that Gerardo was innocent of those charges. That’s a strong statement and quite unusual for an 85-year-old judge who has been a federal appeals magistrate for nearly a quarter of a century.
That was a historic action by the judge, including on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder. Her position is just below the Supreme Court and she is one of the most recognized leaders of the US justice system.
AR.— Your talking about Judge Kravitch.
LW.— Yes, Kravitch.
She was appointed by [former US President] Carter, a man who believes more in human rights than most of the other national leaders. He choose her from a very small court in Georgia where she practiced law, despite having graduated at the top of her class at one of the most prestigious law schools in the United States. But she wasn’t working in any law firm because she was a woman. Therefore, she clearly understands the price that people have to pay when they are victims of prejudice, and I believe that she contributes this in her work as a judge.
AR.— Thank you for speaking with our Round Table.
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art01.html Response to Court Ruling on Cuban Five Appeal
June 5, 2008
Reprinted from Daily Granma
On Wednesday June 4th, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced its ruling in the appeal case for the Cuban Five.
In the 99-page opinion, the three-judge panel unanimously upheld the convictions against the Five Cuban Patriots. The court also upheld the sentences given to René González (15 years) and Gerardo Hernández (two life sentences plus 15 years).
The court’s ruling on Gerardo’s sentence, however, was not unanimous: 2 to 1. On page 16 of the written opinion, Judge Phyllis Kravitch states that the government did not present sufficient evidence to convict Gerardo of conspiracy to commit murder.
The sentences of Ramón Labañino (life plus 18 years); Fernando González (19 years) and Antonio Guerrero (life plus 10 years) were returned to Judge Joan Lenard’s Florida court for re-sentencing. Lenard will need to call for a hearing to issue the new ruling — this is the same judge who imposed the excessive and unjust sentences in 2001.
The Atlanta Appeals Court’s written opinion, which employs startling political rhetoric, states that the defense’s arguments lacked merit and clearly favors the government.
The court’s ruling exposes various contradictions between the opinions of two of the justices and the author of the opinion, Judge William H. Pryor, an ultraconservative appointed to the bench with the help of Republican John McCain despite opposition from the Senate.
The defense attorneys, Weinglass, MacKenna and Horowitz, ensured they will continue the legal battle that began in December 2001 when they were unjustly sentences. There are still some legal avenues open.
Given the United States’ governments’ legal ploys to expand the sentences of our Five Brothers, we are not surprised by the judicial ruling. On the contrary, it reaffirms our need to continue fighting tirelessly to denounce this colossal injustice.
Exposed once again is the contempt of the United States government, which yesterday, in another U.S. city, defended the criminal Luis Posada Carriles. A man who, rather than fittingly declaring him a terrorist for his crimes against humanity and extraditing him to Venezuela where the government has declared Carriles a fugitive and repeatedly demanded his extradition, the U.S. government has granted him full liberty.
Gerardo is not surprised by the ruling. "This is the same system that has unjustly incarcerated Mumia for more than 20 years along with Leonard Peltier and the Puerto Rican political prisoners," he said today. "We will endure as many years as necessary, 30, 40, whatever it takes. As long as one of you is resisting, we will also resist until there is justice."
Gerardo has asked that we communicate his confidence to all of you, "For anyone who asks, tell them I am fine, strong and always looking forward."
Along with all of our friends around the world we call for mobilizations beginning on the morning of June 6, in front of all headquarters of the terrorist U.S. government —in Europe, Latin America and the U.S. — which holds our Five Brothers imprisoned.
Only solidarity, constant condemnation and international mobilization will secure freedom for the Five.
International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five
http://www.freethefive.org/updates/CubanMedia/CMIntlCtteAppeals060608.htm National Lawyers Guild Says Politics Motivated Decision In Cuban Five Case
Two Judges on Three-Judge Panel Uphold Conspiracy to Commit Murder Conviction Despite Government’s Lack of Evidence
June 5, 2008
Reprinted from National Lawyers Guild
New York. The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) believes that politics influenced yesterday’s federal appeals court decision upholding the convictions of five Cuban patriots accused of spying in the United States. The so-called Cuban Five were gathering information on U.S.-based exile groups planning terrorist actions against their island nation.
The court did, however, vacate the sentences of three of the Five, including two serving life terms. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals returned the three cases to a federal judge in Miami for re-sentencing based on findings that the three men had gathered no classified information.
The full 11th Circuit court in August 2006 upheld the convictions of the Five: Gerardo Hernández , Fernando González , René González , Ramon Labañino, and Antonio Guerrero. It rejected claims that their federal trial should have been moved out of Miami because widespread opposition to the Cuban government among Cuban-Americans would make it impossible to get a fair and impartial jury.
In the appeal ruled on yesterday, the Five challenged rulings on the suppression of evidence from searches conducted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, sovereign immunity, discovery procedures, jury selection, prosecutorial and witness misconduct, jury instructions, sufficiency of the evidence to support their convictions, and sentencing.
In this latest decision, the panel voted 2-1 to affirm the life sentence for Gerardo Hernández, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of four Miami-based pilots shot down by Cuban jets in 1996. In her 16-page dissent, Judge Phyllis Kravich wrote that the government failed to present evidence sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hernández agreed to participate in a conspiracy to shoot down planes over international airspace, resulting in the deaths of four pilots from an anti-Castro organization, Brothers to the Rescue. The panel also affirmed Rene González's 15-year sentence for acting as a non-registered foreign agent and conspiracy to act as a non- registered foreign agent.
The panel vacated the life terms of Labañino and Guerrero, agreeing with their contentions that their sentences were improperly configured because no "top secret information was gathered or transmitted." The judges also vacated Fernando González's 19-year sentence because he was not a manager or supervisor of the network. The panel remanded these cases to the district court for re-sentencing.
After a trial that lasted six months, the Five were convicted in 2001 of acting as unregistered Cuban agents in the United States and of conspiracy to commit espionage for attempting to penetrate U.S. military bases. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit overturned the convictions in 2005, saying there should have been a change of venue. But the full court reversed that decision, 10-2.
"Conspiracy has always been the charge used by the prosecution in political cases," said NLG attorney Leonard Weinglass, who represents Guerrero. "In the case of the Five, the Miami jury was asked to find that there was an agreement to commit espionage. The government never had to prove that espionage actually happened. It could not have proven that espionage occurred. None of the Five sought or possessed any top secret information or US national defense secrets," Weinglass added. "The sentence for the conspiracy charge is the same as if espionage were actually committed and proven. That is how three got life sentences. The major charges in this case were all conspiracy related, the most serious being conspiracy to commit murder levied against Gerardo Hernández."
"Anti-Cuba sentiment has tainted all possibility of a fair trial for the Five since their original arrest and confinement, which the UN Rapporteur on Torture described as violating the Convention Against Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment," said NLG Executive Director Heidi Boghosian. "During the original trial, the Bush administration paid journalists to write unfavorable stories about Cuba. Anti-Cuban extremists tried to intimidate the jurors, and even prospective jurors admitted that they would be afraid to return not-guilty verdicts against the Five."
"For nearly 50 years, anti-Cuba terrorist organizations based in Miami have engaged in countless terrorist activities against Cuba," said NLG President Marjorie Cohn. "In the face of this terrorism, the Cuban Five were gathering intelligence in Miami in order to prevent future terrorist acts against Cuba."
Founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, which did not admit people of color, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.
http://www.freethefive.org/updates/USMedia/USMNLGAppeals060508.htm - Press Conference on the Appeals Court Decision:
http://www.freethefive.org/updates/Comuniques/COPressConf060508.htm - Press Conference demanding extradition of Luis Posada Carriles:
http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr009=v3scjy4qsb.app8a&abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=8819&news_iv_ctrl=1621 - CUBA proves links of U.S. Diplomats with Terrorists:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/05/97358.html - CUBA: Posada Carriles, un asesino en serie:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/06/97753.html See also:
http://www.antiterroristas.cu http://www.antiterroristas.cu/index.php?tpl=./interface.en/design/home.tpl.html http://www.freethefive.org http://www.thecuban5.org http://www.wicuba.org http://www.granma.cu/miami5/ingles/index.html http://www.freeforfive.org/fr/home.html http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr009=v3scjy4qsb.app8a&abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=8815&news_iv_ctrl=1621 http://www.cubainformacion.tv In Great Britain and Ireland:
http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/ http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/cubasi.asp http://www.ratb.org.uk/ http://www.cubansarecoming.org/ http://www.cubasol-manch.org.uk/ http://www.cymru-cuba.cjb.net/ http://www.cubasupport.com/ http://www.blackpoolandfyldecsc.org.uk/ http://uk.geocities.com/cscsheffield/ http://uk.geocities.com/cscsheffield/page6.html
posted by F Espinoza
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CUBA Calls World Pro-Five Protest
10.06.2008 16:36
HAVANA, Jun 10 (PRENSA LATINA).— Cuban youth on Tuesday called to multiply international protests of students and social movements for the release of the five Cuban anti-terrorists unfairly imprisoned in the US.
Hundreds of young people in front of the US Interest Section in Havana reiterated their rejection of the injustices the Five Heroes are suffering, after nearly ten years in prison.
Luis Morlote, president of the Hermanos Sainz Associations of Young Creators, reaffirmed the commitment of young generations with the Cuban people's struggle for the return of the Five.
He also called upon youth and students organizations worldwide to join the Cuban demand, and condemn the injustice.
On June 4, the 11th circuit of the Atlanta Court of Appeals upheld the convictions against Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez, and Rene Gonzalez, who are serving long sentences, including several life imprisonments.
That decision has been widely condemned in the world, as the defense demonstrated at that court the existence of anomalies in the initial trial.
In addition, the demonstrators demanded the immediate imprisonment of confessed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, requested in Venezuela for the mid-flight explosion of a passenger plane and other crimes.
Video:
posted by F Espinoza
Release the Cuban 58
10.06.2008 18:49
18 March 2008
On the 5th anniversary of the largest crackdown against political opponents in Cuba, Amnesty International today called on the new Cuban authorities to immediately release the 58 dissidents still being held in jails across the country.
“Five years is five years too many. The only crime committed by these 58 is the peaceful exercise of their fundamental freedoms. Amnesty International considers them to be prisoners of conscience. They must be released immediately and unconditionally,” said Kerrie Howard, Deputy Director for Amnesty International’s Americas Programme.
In February 2008, Amnesty International welcomed the release of four prisoners of conscience and Cuba’s signing of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“The new Cuban President, Raul Castro, has to follow the recent positive actions by tackling some of the most pressing human rights issues in the country – including judicial review of all sentences passed after unfair trials, the abolition of the death penalty and the introduction of measures to guarantee freedom of expression and independence of the judiciary,” said Kerrie Howard.
Fifty-five of the 58 current prisoners of conscience in Cuba are the remainder of a group of 75 people jailed in the context of a massive crackdown against the dissident movement in March 2003. Most of them were charged with crimes including “acts against the independence of the state” because they received funds and/or materials from the United States government in order to engage in activities the authorities perceived as subversive and damaging to Cuba. These activities included publishing articles or giving interviews to US-funded media, communicating with international human rights organizations and having contact with entities or individuals viewed to be hostile to Cuba. The men were sentenced to between six and 28 years of prison after speedy and dubious trials. Twenty have so far been conditionally released on medical grounds.
Among the jailed political opponents is doctor and human rights defender Marcelo Cano Rodriguez. He was arrested in the city of Las Tunas on 25 March 2003 as he was investigating the arrest of another doctor, Jorge Luis García Paneque, detained during the crackdown on dissidents on the island. Marcelo Cano Rodríguez was tried, convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison. The activities the prosecution cited against him included visiting prisoners and their families as part of his work with the Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos (Cuban Human Rights Commission); and maintaining ties to the international organization Medicos sin Fronteras, Doctors without Borders. He is currently being held in Ariza prison in the city of Cienfuegos, around 250 km south-east of his home in the capital, Havana, where his family lives making family visits difficult.
“By continuing to hold political opponents for exercising fundamental freedoms, the Cuban authorities are failing to step up to their human rights commitments,” said Kerrie Howard.
A full list of the 58 political activists unfairly imprisoned in Cuba will be available from 18 March on:
Amnesty International
Other from Amnesty...
10.06.2008 21:23
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Dialing for Dollars in Cuba
by Machetera
May 24, 2008
Reprinted from Alternet
There are so many things wrong with this story that it would be hard to know where to begin, so let’s start with Tuesday’s headline in El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish language fiefdom of the Miami Herald, which says “Dissident Cuban Woman Says Government Hounds but Doesn’t Allow a Defense.”
Now, aside from the striking fact that the Cuban woman in question, Martha Beatriz Roque, is given a free platform by a major U.S. daily from which to defend herself (and doesn’t) - something which is never offered those hounded by the United States government, Machetera’s going to take a wild guess here and say that if the Cuban government didn’t also invite her to appear on the Cuban political television program, Mesa Redonda (Round Table) where her grasping emails were unveiled, demanding payment for services rendered, it would have been to save her from being killed by the audience. Because Martha doesn’t just take money from anybody. She takes it from the ugliest people - Santiago Alvarez, the benefactor of Luis Posada Carriles, who blew up a Cuban passenger plane in 1976, killing all 73 people on board.
Alvarez, you’ll recall, spirited the aging terrorist Posada Carriles from Mexico to safe haven in the United States, aboard his vessel, the Santrina - a felony, incidentally, but one that has so far not been prosecuted since the government has been otherwise occupied slapping him on the wrist for his unusual weapons collection: “machine guns, rifles, C-4 explosive, dynamite, detonators, a grenade launcher and ammunition,” according to the Miami Herald.
Fidel Castro was the first person to point out that Posada Carriles had arrived on the Santrina, not as Posada Carriles claimed, on a bus crossing the Mexico/Texas border, but the U.S. press ran with the bus story for a very long time anyway. It worked out well in the end, as the lie about the bus trip was what the government finally used to charge and minimally sentence Posada Carriles instead of complying with international law and turning him over for extradition to Venezuela to be prosecuted in the 1976 plane bombing.
When not dialing for dollars (or specifically, euros) for herself and others, Martha apparently busied herself writing to the judge overseeing Alvarez’s prosecution, which might have paid off, had the letter not been lost at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. Martha understood the consequences and wrote to her Miami confidante and intermediary for the terrorists, Carmen Machado,
“It’s a serious problem, since [Cuban] Security will surely bring out the original letter on Mesa Redonda, or in a book, or maybe they’ll bring me back to trial for it, since they’ve never had any proof against me despite all the years I’ve lived. I wanted you to know and for you to tell my friend, of whom I’m also very proud.”
Martha’s not the only one taking money from such despicable people. The U.S. government p.r. creation, the “Ladies in White,” (Damas de Blanco) takes terrorist money too. The “Ladies in White” are the Cuban wives of other so-called dissidents who don white clothing and head-scarves in the most cynical appropriation of the memory of the Argentine Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo who marched to demand the return of their children, abducted in the U.S. supported military dictatorship there.
The p.r. geniuses who thought up the “Ladies in White” have counted on a short public attention span and a compliant press, but Hebe de Bonafini, a real mother from Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo was perfectly blunt about the insult in an interview with Salim Lamrani in 2005:
Lamrani: The Cuban authorities arrested and harshly sentenced various people to prison terms, which the international press calls “dissidents,” for having collaborated with the economic sanctions against Cuba and for receiving subsidies from the United States. The French press has often alluded to the “Ladies in White,” the family of these “dissidents,” who march in Havana to ask for the liberation of their family members. Several media have referred to these people as the “Cuban Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.” What does Hebe de Bonafini, President of the Association of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo think?
De Bonafini: First, let me say that the Plaza de Mayo is in Argentina and nowhere else. Our white headscarf symbolizes life, while the women you speak about to me represent death. This is the most important and most substantial difference that should be noted by these journalists. We are not going to accept their being compared to us, or that our symbols be used to trample upon us. We are in complete disagreement with them.
However, they are demanding the release of their family members. Doesn’t that seem legitimate?
These women defend United States terrorism. They defend the world’s foremost terrorist country, that with the most blood on its hands, that which launches the most bombs, that invades the most countries, that imposes the strongest economic sanctions against others. We are talking about a country that is responsible for the crimes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
These women don’t realize that the struggle of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo symbolizes love for our abducted children, killed by tyrants imposed by the United States. Our battle represents the Revolution, the one that our sons and daughters wanted to make. Their struggle is different, since they defend the subversive policies of the United States that only contain oppression, repression and death.
What, according to you, are the interests being defended by the “Cuban dissidents?”
The interests of the United States, of course. You’d have to be blind or dishonest not to see it. You only have to read the reports published by the U.S. State Department, in which it is said that a $50 million budget is earmarked for the fabrication of an opposition in Cuba. The information is public, and it’s available. The dissidents themselves, as they are called, meet with Mr. James Cason [the U.S. representative preceding Michael Parmly in Havana] and are under his command. These dissidents have openly supported the maintenance of economic sanctions that so harm the Cuban people. Who, besides the United States, supports those economic sanctions? Tell me!
Now, to some of the sordid details about the current transactions.
Machetera won’t bother to translate all the emails from Martha (Martuchita) to her pals in Miami, but she will make a couple of observations.
In his Monday press conference on the affair, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack played stupid.
He claimed repeatedly not to understand the “mechanics” of how the terrorists’ money got to Cuba (inside the pocket of the number one U.S. diplomat, Michael Parmly) and insisted that international law was not violated. Perhaps not, but U.S. law was, even if McCormack refused to admit it. It’s a law with which sadly, Machetera has a personal acquaintance, and it has to do with George W. Bush’s brilliant humanitarian edict that no more than $300 per quarter can be sent to a Cuban citizen, and only by a family member in the United States. When you go to Western Union, you fill out an affidavit that is filed with the Office of Foreign Assets Control, swearing you haven’t sent more than the maximum permitted, every single time. But that’s just for the common folk. Martuchita’s uncommon, and so are her friends.
Carmen Machado, or alternately Carmenchu or Carmita, Alvarez’s message-girl who was in frequent contact with Martha was both arrogant enough and evidently stupid enough to use her work email,
Aventura, as Machado’s email address suggests, is owned by Hospital Corporation of America, “the largest private operator of health care facilities in the world,” where Senator Bill Frist made his fortune. Frist dumped his shares in a very timely manner, just prior to the release of “disappointing earnings” figures, claiming that because he was running for president, he wanted to avoid any conflict of interest. He was joined in this clairvoyance by numerous executives, who unfortunately, were not in the presidential race. Shareholders sued the company and in August 2007, the lawsuit was settled, with HCA paying $20 million to shareholders.
Machetera is the proprietor of the Machetera blog:
© 2008 Machetera All rights reserved.
From :
- Scandal breaks in conspiracy involving anti-Cuba terrorist and US Government Office:
And from Amnesty...
Amnesty International calls Cuban Five case a human rights violation
May 28, 2008
Reprinted from antiterroristas.cu
On May 28 Amnesty International issued its 2008 annual report in which a chapter referring to the human rights violations committed by the United States Government included the case of René González, Gerardo Hernández, Fernando González, Ramón Labañino and Antonio Guerrero, who for ten years have been serving sentences totaling four life imprisonments plus 77 years. Their case has been in appeal since 2001.
In this report Amnesty did not limit its denunciation to that of the refusal of visas to two of the wives, Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, as it has done in reports since 2003, but also addressed the delay in the appeal process and the arguments presented by the defense concerning insufficient evidence and the prosecution's improper conduct, as part of its data about the US judicial system.
Since 2002 Amnesty International has repeatedly requested US authorities to concede visas to Olga and Adriana, the negation of which it labels "an unnecessary punitive measure contrary to the norms of humane treatment of prisoners and the obligation of States to protect family life."
The 2008 Amnesty report joins denunciations made by many other organizations among which are the UN Arbitrary Detention Work Group, the European Parliament, national and regional parliaments and religious organizations, such as the World Council of Churches and the Council of Churches of Christ in the United States, as well as notables from the entire world.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2008
In August an oral hearing took place in the case of five Cuban nationals convicted in Miami in June 2001 of conspiring to act as agents of the Republic of Cuba and other charges (USA v Gerardo Hernandez et al). Grounds for the appeal included insufficient evidence and alleged improper statements by the prosecution during the trial. The appeal court’s decision was pending at the end of 2007. The US government continued to refuse to grant the wives of two of the prisoners visas to visit them in prison.
F Espinoza