[NYTr] New Trial Sought for Cuban 5 - News Roundup

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Toronto Star - Aug 22, 2007
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/248623

New trial sought for 5 Cubans held in U.S.
 
'Los Cinco,' convicted in 2001 of spying for the Castro government, go
before court in Atlanta

by Tim Harper
WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON–In Havana they are known simply as "Los Cinco" – The Five –
their names and revered words emblazoned on walls.

In the eyes of the U.S. justice system, they are spies and they are
serving time in American prisons for their sins.

Now, nine years after their arrest, the so-called Cuban Five are back
in the public eye, with a panel of judges in Atlanta preparing to rule
on whether they deserve a new trial in this country.

Their case is wrapped in the rigid ideological war between Washington
and Havana, the Bush administration's so-called "war on terror" and a
potential change of regime in Cuba.

The original prosecution argument when the five were convicted in 2001
elevated their crimes to such levels that U.S. government prosecutors
said they were "bent on the destruction of America."

The Castro regime instead has characterized the men as brave defenders
of Cuba who tried to prevent terror attacks against Havana, and the
ailing Cuban leader has accused the U.S. of hypocrisy for jailing them
for fighting the Cuban equivalent of the war on terror.

That argument gained even more adherents in Cuba when the U.S. in May
decided to release 79-year-old Luis Posada Carriles from jail, even
though he is wanted in Cuba and Venezuela for his role in hotel
bombings and allegedly orchestrating airline bombings from the
mid-1970s to the late 1990s.

All five, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Rene
Gonzalez and Fernando Gonzalez, were convicted in a Miami court in June
2001 of acting as unregistered foreign agents.

Three of them were also convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage by
trying to infiltrate a naval air station in south Florida and the U.S.
Southern Command headquarters in Miami.

Hernandez was also convicted of conspiracy to murder in connection with
the deaths of four Cuban exiles when two light aircraft were shot down
by the Cuban air force over the Straits of Florida in 1996.

Hernandez was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, Guerrero and
Labanino received life sentences, Fernando Gonzalez received 19 years
and Rene Gonzalez 15 years.

None of the five dispute that they were working for the Castro
government, but Richard Klugh says, "they were not here to harm the
United States."

Instead, he says, they were gathering intelligence to try to stem a
violent assault on the Cuban tourist industry which was believed to be
rooted in the exile community in Miami.

Klugh, a public defender in Miami, inherited this case simply by luck
of the draw, but has been involved with it for eight years.

He takes no pleasure in seeing the case being used for propaganda
purposes in Cuba.

"It's not something I promote,'' said Klugh. "It's not helpful for me
to think that a victory for our legal system is a victory for Cuba.

"For me, a victory for our legal system is a victory for our legal
system.''

None of the five ever laid a hand on a classified U.S. document, the
defence says.

But they still pledge their fealty to Castro.

"On this 81st birthday, we desire for you health and vitality, that you
have many more, and that we can celebrate all those future
anniversaries together in our beautiful fatherland,'' Labanino wrote on
Castro's 81st birthday earlier this month.

In an interview with the BBC last month, Hernandez denied any knowledge
of the downing of the aircraft, and said he had been sent to the United
States to defend his country against terrorist attacks from Cuban
exiles in Miami.

"They are people who've got training camps there in paramilitary
organizations and they go to Cuba and commit sabotage, bombs and all
kinds of aggressions,'' he said.

"And they had impunity, so at a certain point Cuba decided to send some
people to gather information on those groups and send it back to Cuba
to prevent those actions.''

Hernandez accused Posada of masterminding a series of 1997 bombings in
Cuba, something Posada has denied.

Lawyers for the five had always argued that the deck was stacked
against the men in Miami, but lost their original bid for a change of
venue.

"Every community has a certain orientation," said Klugh. "People in
Toronto root for the Maple Leafs and people in Montreal root for the
Canadiens.

"We didn't argue Miami was the wrong venue for political reasons, just
an error in judgment to hold the trial there."

This week's hearing in Atlanta was the third time courts in Georgia
have taken on this case.

In 2005 a three-judge panel in Atlanta threw out the 2001 verdicts,
saying it was impossible for the men to receive a fair trial amidst the
anti-Castro sentiment in Miami.

Two months later, a full court overturned that ruling but agreed to
hear another appeal based on evidence, not venue.

                                   ***

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Bias Spotlighted in Cuban Five Case

Javier Rodriguez

Havana, Aug 21 (Prensa Latina) The world solidarity shown for the Cuban
Five anti-terrorists in their recent hearing in the US Court of Appeals
underscored the injustice of original sentences against them.

The presence of attorneys and members of international social and
political organizations at the August 20 hearing proved useless in
breaking the media wall of silence around the case.

Italian Fabio Marcelli, member of the International Association of
Democratic Lawyers, called to annul the original verdicts, while
Chilean attorney Juan Guzman urged for their immediate release.

Although no one expected spectacular results, analysts said the defense
exposed the US government"s poor conduct throughout the process.

Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba"s National Assembly of the People"s
Power, mentioned the mountain of irregularities and violations
committed since the 1998 arrest of the Cuban Five.

This list ranges from banning the defense access to documents relevant
to the case to confining the prisoners in solitary punishment cells for
17 months.

Seven months after the trial began the prosecution added conspiracy to
commit murder in the first degree to the body of charges, without
evidence to achieve the maximum sentence.

Two recent US cases point up the US government"s hatred of Cuba and
everything involving the five Cuban anti-terrorists, Alarcon noted.

Philippine Leandro Arangoncillo was detained carrying 736 secret
documents from the White House, the Pentagon and State Department. He
was accused of espionage and given ten years in prison.

Meanwhile three of the Cubans, who allegedly conspired to engage in
espionage, were given life sentences.

An Iraqi resident in Chicago, Abdel Latif Dumeisi, was accused as an
undercover agent working for a foreign government without a license and
of spying; he was given 46 months in prison.

However, Rene Gonzalez was sentenced to 15 years in prison for
collecting information among Miami based anti-Cuba groups to prevent
terrorist acts against the Island.

The body of evidence proves the political manipulation against the
Cuban Five but the truth will prevail some day and we must insist on
achieving it, said Alarcon.

ef ccs emw jrr PL-31

                          ***

Cuban 5 Hearing Fruitful

Havana, Aug 21 (Prensa Latina) Outstanding Chilean Jurist Juan Guzman
said the defense team of five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters unfairly
imprisoned in United States succesfully showed the prosecution office"s
bad performance in the process of 2001.

Guzman, who attended Monday the presentation of the defense team"s
allegations before three judges assigned by the US Court of Appeals
11th Circuit in Atlanta, said the team proved that Miami, United
States, was not a good place for that trial.

After that process, Fernando Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio
Guerrero, Rene Gonzalez and Ramon Labanino, universally known as the
Cuban Five, were unjustly condemned to harsh sentences ranging from 15
years to double life imprisonment.

The jury was biased and there were allusions by the Attorney General"s
office that taxpayers were paying for a trial of those "who were trying
to destroy United States," stated Guzman in a phone interview to the
Cuban roundtable TV program.

The legal expert and former judge in the Chilean Pinochet case said
that at the end of the hearing it was clear the jury was far from
impartial, rather afraid and ready to rule against the Five.

International Committee to Free the Five coordinator Alicia Jrapko
expressed satisfaction with the support of many world figures.

sus iff apf mf PL-2

                               ***

AP via The Washington Post - Aug 20, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/20/AR2007082001468.html

Cuban Five' Plea for Freedom

By GREG BLUESTEIN
The Associated Press

ATLANTA -- The politically charged case of five men convicted of spying
for communist Cuba came before a federal appeals court for the third
time Monday, with defense attorneys alleging that prosecutors
overemphasized Fidel Castro and committed other misconduct to win
unjust convictions.

Defense attorneys seeking a new trial claim the government wrongly used
"Castro's evil" to push for convictions on what they say are overblown
charges of conspiracy to commit espionage and murder. Federal
prosecutor Caroline Heck Miller dismissed what she called a defense
"parade of horrors" and argued the trial was won by hard evidence, not
anti-Castro sentiment.

"Red baiting. Communism. Your Honor, that was not the record of this
case," Miller said. "It was a soberly tried case."

Dozens of people lined up outside the Atlanta courthouse more than two
hours before the arguments began to watch the latest chapter of the
decade-long saga unfold. The "Cuban Five" have been lionized as heroes
in Cuba, while exile groups say they were justly punished.

Castro's government sent Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Rene
Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez to South Florida to
gather information about anti-communist exile groups and send it back
to the island using encrypted software, high-frequency radio
transmissions and coded electronic phone messages.

The five were convicted of being unregistered foreign agents, and three
were found guilty of espionage conspiracy for failed efforts to obtain
military secrets. Hernandez was also convicted of murder conspiracy in
the deaths of four Miami-based pilots whose small, private planes were
shot down in February 1996 by a Cuban MiG in international waters off
Cuba's northern coast.

They were sentenced to terms ranging from 10 years to life in December
2001, but the case has ping-ponged through the court system the last
six years due to a round of appeals.

In August 2005, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in Atlanta tossed the verdicts, saying the five didn't receive
a fair trial because of anti-Castro bias in Miami. But the convictions
were reinstated exactly a year later by the full 11th Circuit.

Monday's arguments before another three-judge panel of the court
offered the five their latest shot at freedom.

Defense attorney Richard Klugh focused his arguments on Guerrero, who
was accused of sending detailed reports on the Naval Air Station at Key
West. He said his client could have used public information -- not
clandestine espionage -- to piece together the reports.

"An enterprising reporter could have obtained the same info that
Antonio Guerrero obtained on that base," Klugh said. "He's doing a life
sentence for something that could have been published in the Miami
Herald."

Fellow defense attorney Brenda Bryn told the judges that prosecutors
breached 12 different categories of misconduct that "have never before
been identified in one case."

She said the law demands the court reopen the case based on the
"flagrancy" of the misconduct, noting that 28 of 34 objections lodged
against prosecutors during closing arguments were sustained.

But Miller argued the government's conduct was proper, and told the
judges that much of what is being alleged as misconduct passed without
objection at the 2001 trial.

Although the five men's so-called "Wasp Network" spy ring recovered no
U.S. secrets, federal prosecutors argued for stiff penalties, saying
they were well-trained spies who ran afoul of federal law by failing to
inform the government of their presence.

Defense lawyers said they were trying to gather information that might
prevent exile groups from waging more attacks, such as the bombings at
Havana hotels that killed an Italian tourist in 1997.

While serving their sentences, the men have become celebrities of sorts
in Cuba. As Castro celebrated his 81st birthday last week, messages
that the five hope to "celebrate all those future anniversaries
together in our beautiful fatherland" were published in the Communist
party newspaper. 

© 2007 The Associated Press

                             ***

CubaNow via CubaHeadlines - Aug 21, 2007
http://www.cubaheadlines.com/2007/08/21/5284/inappropriate_prosecution_in_cuban_five_case_proven.html

Inappropriate prosecution in Cuban Five Case proven

By Al Games, CubaNow

The defense team proved that Miami was not the right place to hold the
trial. As a consequence, Fernando Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio
Guerrero, Rene Gonzalez and Ramon Labanino, known as the Cuban Five,
were unjustly condemned to harsh and unfair sentences ranging from 15
years to double life imprisonment. 

[NOTE: This question of venue, which was NOT the issue before the
current heariing, was actually heard in 2005 by a 3-judge panel, which
decided in the Five's favor, but that ruling was reversed by the full
court of Appeals the following year. The hearing on Aug 20th dealt with
prosecutorial misconduct. -NY Transfer]

The defense team of the five Cuban antiterrorist fighers held in US
prisons, successfully proved the inappropriate behavior of the
prosecution office during the trial held against the five men in 2001.

The statement was made by renowned Chilean jurist Juan Guzman, who
attended the oral hearing held on Monday by a three-judge panel at the
11th Circuit of Atlanta's Court of Appeals.

The defense team proved that Miami was not the right place to hold the
trial, said Guzman in a phone conversation with participants at Monday
evening's TV show the Round Table. He noted that the jury, in the 2001
trial, was biased, while there were allegations by the US Attorney
General's office that taxpayers were financing a trial of five people
"who tried to destroy the United States."

Guzman, who was the judge in the case of Chilean dictator Augusto
Pinochet, pointed out that by the end of the Miami trial the jury was
far from impartial and ready to sentence the Cuban Five.

As a consequence, Fernando Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio
Guerrero, Rene Gonzalez and Ramon Labanino, known as the Cuban Five,
were unjustly condemned to harsh and unfair sentences ranging from 15
years to double life imprisonment.

The Cuban Five had infiltrated ultra-right circles in South Florida,
who have carried out terrorist actions against the Cuban people over
the past 40 years.

                                 ***


Al Jazeera - Aug 21, 2007
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/28357391-BF21-4EE3-8AD6-0DC8A5DE88D9.htm

Jailed Cubans launch appeal in US  	 	

Five Cubans serving prison sentences in the US for spying and
conspiracy to commit murder have appealed against their convictions and
called for a new trial. Defence lawyers for the so-called Cuban Five
say their trial in 2001 was heavily flawed and politicised.
 
The men deserved a fresh trial because the prosecution made statements
in their closing arguments in 2001 that violated court rules and
because the sentences were harsher than the crimes deserved, lawyers
told a federal court in Atlanta on Monday. 

Richard Klugh, one of the lawyers, told a panel of three judges: "The
court should find that the defendants were prejudiced [by what the
prosecution said] and the court should grant a new trial."

'Foreign agents'

The five - Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio
Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez - were sent to Florida by the government
of Fidel Castro.

There they gathered information about anti-communist exile groups and
sent it back to Cuba using encrypted software, high-frequency radio
transmissions and coded electronic telephone messages.

All five were convicted of being unregistered foreign agents, and three
were found guilty of espionage conspiracy for failed efforts to obtain
military secrets.

They were given prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life in
December 2001, but the case has been through a range of appeals and
before several courts since.

Monday's hearing was the third time the politically charged case has
come before the US court of appeal, and a crowd of dozens lined up
outside the Atlanta courthouse more than two hours before the arguments
began.

The Cuban Five are celebrated at home as national heroes victimised by
Washington as part of its diplomatic campaign against Cuba.

But to many members of the Cuban exile community they were justly
convicted and Havana's support for the men is seen as an example of
Cuba's pursuit of its own anti-US agenda.

Government lawyers refuted an argument from the defence that its case
was "over-hyperbolic" and said there was no misconduct by the
prosecution at the 2001 trial.

"This was a soberly tried case. It was squarely based on evidence...
The government did not exploit red-baiting in this case," government
lawyer Caroline Heck Miller told the court.

'Inference upon inference'

She was referring to claims by the defence that prosecutors unfairly
characterised conviction of the men as of national importance because
they represented a communist government opposed to the US.

One of the men, Gerardo Hernandez, was also indicted for conspiracy to
commit murder based on the allegation that he passed information to
Havana that led to the downing in 1996 by a Cuban MiG jet of two small
aircraft operated by a Miami-based Cuban exile group and flying near
Cuba. Four people were killed.

Hernandez was sentenced to two life terms, Antonio Guerrero and Ramon
Labanino got life, Fernando Gonzalez received 19 years in jail and Rene
Gonzalez got 15 years.

Hernandez says he was spying on paramilitary exile groups in Miami, not
on the US itself, when he and four members of his so-called Wasp
Network were arrested.

The mission was to prevent "terrorist" attacks on Cuba, according to
Ramsey Clark, a former US attorney general who was present in support
of the men.

"There is an injustice in this case... The theory that the government
used [to prosecute Hernandez] is a classic pile of inference upon
inference upon inference," Klugh said.

The three judges at the court of appeal in Atlanta may take many weeks
to make a ruling in the case, supporters of the men said. 

Source: Agencies

                            ***

BBC - Aug 20, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/6954625.stm

Cuban spies appeal for US retrial

Five Cubans convicted in the US of spying for Havana have appealed for
a retrial, saying they were found guilty because of anti-Castro bias.

The men, known as the Cuban Five, were arrested in 1998 and convicted
of charges such as using false identities and conspiracy to commit
espionage.

Three were given life terms, the other two 15 and 19 years in jail.

US prosecutors insist the men were found guilty after a "soberly-tried
case" that was based on hard evidence.

It is the third time the five - Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Rene
Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez - have sought to
appeal against their 2001 convictions.

National heroes

Defence lawyers told the Atlanta appeals court the US government
committed several acts of misconduct during the men's trial and their
sentences were unduly harsh.

Lawyers said the US had used "[Cuban leader Fidel] Castro's evil to
argue for the defendants' criminal guilt", displaying a large photo of
Mr Castro in front of the jury at the trial.

Cuba's government says the men were not in Miami to spy on the US but
to prevent anti-Castro exile groups from launching what it calls
terrorist attacks on Cuba.

The year before they were arrested there had been a bombing campaign
against tourist sites in Havana. An Italian national was killed and
several Cubans injured.

US prosecutors said in court documents that the men's trial was
conducted based on hard evidence, "with great care and professionalism".

"This was a soberly tried case. It was squarely based on evidence ...
The government did not exploit red-baiting in this case," government
lawyer Caroline Heck Miller told the court.

Crowds lined the streets outside the courtroom to watch proceedings.

The men are considered national heroes in Cuba - they figure
prominently on billboards all over the country and are the subject of
regular rallies and demonstrations, says the BBC's Michael Voss in
Havana.

'Double standards'

The president of Cuba's National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, who is
leading an international campaign to secure a retrial, told BBC News
the US is applying double standards in the fight against terror.

He said an Iraqi agent allegedly caught spying on anti-Saddam groups in
Chicago was jailed for less than four years, "while our people... were
considered a danger to the US".

The verdict was initially ruled unsound because it was believed the men
could not have received a fair trial in Miami, which has a large Cuban
exile community. That ruling was later overturned.

                        ***

Reuters - Aug 20, 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2027810720070820

Cuban spies jailed in U.S. appeal for new trial

By Matthew Bigg

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Five Cubans serving long U.S. prison sentences for
spying and conspiracy to commit murder appealed their convictions on
Monday to press for a new trial.

FBI agents arrested the men in 1998 and they were convicted in 2001 of
26 counts of spying on the Cuban exile community in Miami on behalf of
Fidel Castro's government.

Prosecutors also accused the men of trying to infiltrate U.S. military
installations to obtain secrets.

Lawyers for the five, who were not present in court, said they deserved
a fresh trial because the prosecution made statements in closing
arguments in 2001 that violated court rules and because the sentences
were harsher than the crimes deserved.

"The court should find that the defendants were prejudiced (by what the
prosecution said) and the court should grant a new trial," defense
attorney Richard Klugh told a federal courtroom in Atlanta packed with
both supporters of the men and opponents of the Castro government.

The "Cuban Five" are celebrated at home as national heroes victimized
by Washington as part of its diplomatic campaign against the island's
government since Castro took power in a 1959 revolution.

But to many members of the Cuban exile community they were justly
convicted and Havana's support for the men is seen as an example of
Cuba's pursuit of its own anti-U.S. agenda.

Government lawyers refuted a defense argument that its case was
"over-hyperbolic" and said there was no misconduct by the prosecution
at the 2001 trial.

"This was a soberly tried case. It was squarely based on evidence ...
The government did not exploit red-baiting in this case," government
lawyer Caroline Heck Miller told the court.

She was referring to claims by the defense that prosecutors unfairly
characterized conviction of the men as of national importance because
they represented a communist government opposed to the United States.

LIFE TERMS

One of the men, Gerardo Hernandez, was also indicted for conspiracy to
commit murder based on the allegation he passed information to Havana
that led to the downing in 1996 by a Cuban MiG jet of two small planes
operated by a Miami-based Cuban exile group and flying near Cuba. Four
people were killed.

Hernandez was sentenced to two life terms, Antonio Guerrero and Ramon
Labanino got life, Fernando Gonzalez received 19 years in jail and Rene
Gonzalez got 15 years.

Hernandez says he was spying on paramilitary exile groups in Miami, not
on the United States itself, when he and four members of his so-called
Wasp Network were arrested.

The mission was to prevent "terrorist" attacks on Cuba, according to
Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney general who was present in support
of the men.

"There is an injustice in this case ... The theory that the government
used (to prosecute Hernandez) is a classic pile of inference upon
inference upon inference," said Klugh.

The three judges at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta
may take weeks or longer to make a ruling in the case, supporters of
the men said.

© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.