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The only solution to the case of the
Five
is their release
• Affirms William Norris, Ramón
Labañino’s lawyer
Deisy Francis
Mexidor
•
ON leaving the courthouse in Miami, William Norris
stated that “although it is not what we wanted, we
are to an extent satisfied,” given the reduction in
the sentence handed down to Ramón Labañino Salazar,
one of the five Cuban anti-terrorists unjustly
incarcerated in the United States for more than 11
years.
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William Norris,
Ramón Labañino’s
attorney. |
A
member of the Five’s legal team and Ramón’s
attorney, Norris granted a brief assessment of the
re-sentencing hearing for three of the Five, which
took place in Miami on December 8.
He
noted that the new sentence is a partial result in
the case, “because it now allows us to establish, at
least, a fixed date on which Ramón can be released
and return to his family in Cuba, and there is also
the possibility of completing his sentence outside
of a maximum security prison.”
However, Norris affirmed that “we have to continue
working” in order to press the U.S. government to
come up with a definitive solution to the Five’s
cause, and the only solution is their release.
He
pointed out that the 30-year term handed down to
Labañino, replacing the original one of life plus 18
years, “is still an excessive sentence.”
He
confirmed that the defense team is to focus its next
efforts on Gerardo Hernández Nordelo (who was
sentenced to double life plus 15 years), “because
this is the greatest injustice in the whole case.”
Asked about his experiences throughout the legal
proceedings around the Five, Norris affirmed that
they have been quite exceptional. “I said to the
judge at the beginning of the trial that Ramón
Labañino is one of the finest and most intelligent
men that Cuba has produced,” and he added, “It pains
me that he is being treated as a criminal when he is
an exceptional man.”
Listening to his lawyer an image comes back to my
mind: that of his immense stature and the firmness
of his responses to all the questions put to him by
Judge Joan Lenard in the hermetic quality of a
courtroom to which he and his compañeros should
never have been brought. •
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MIAMI
5
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