Index | Judicial Process and Prison -- International Solidarity -- Terrorism against the Island -- Testimony by the heroes
They will return -- Gallery

Five years of struggle for justice
BY SARA MAS—Granma daily staff writer—

FIVE years after the detention in the United States of Fernando González, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, René González and Gerardo Hernández on September 12, 1998, the case of the five Cuban prisoners of the U.S. empire is following its protracted course in legal proceedings, while new voices of solidarity from various parts of the world are complementing the struggle of the Cuban people for truth and justice to prevail.

The District Attorney’s Office, which should have responded to the appeal presented before the Atlanta Circuit Court on September 13, has now asked for a further two weeks, according to jurist Rodolfo Dávalos on yesterday’s Roundtable program, transmitted by Cuban TV and radio.

This means that the defense replication cannot happen before early November and thus a decision whether the files are sufficient or a hearing is necessary as the next step in the review of the case, the specialist added.

Dávalos affirmed that the appeal presented contains at least 24 reasons for annulling the first trial. Among these he highlighted the violation committed by selecting a jury under discriminatory criteria, the lack of evidence in the crime of usurpation for committing a crime against the United States, and the sentence of consecutive rather than simultaneous prison terms, this last in the particular case of René González.

The legal expert mentioned other appeal motives such as the use of a hostile witness, in allusion to the interrogation of José Basulto (head of the anti-Cuba Brothers to the Rescue organization) and the lack of instructions to the jury on the aspect of fraudulent intent required in the imputed charge of non-declared foreign agents. The actions of the Five were confined to infiltrating terrorist groups and informing on their activities, there was no subjective intent to violate U.S. legislation, Dávalos noted.

The five years of imprisonment and dignified struggle by the Cubans and their compatriots have been accompanied by five years of legal violations in counter to the law, the Constitution and U.S. legal precedents, he added.

For their part, various family members of the Five gave faith to the moral integrity of those unjustly imprisoned on U.S. territory, far from their loved ones. During the program a letter from Gerardo on behalf of the five marking their fifth year of incarceration was read out.

The letter expresses thanks for the solidarity and support he and his brothers in struggle have received from the Cuban people and various people in the world who have written to them to offer support in open defiance of the mantle of silence on the part of the so-called free press. He assures them all that so much strength and optimism reaches the interior of their cells and deep into their hearts.

The roundtable reported that to date 196 solidarity committees in 75 countries have been formed to promote support and publicity on the situation of the five Cubans unjustly imprisoned in the United States.

There is something very important about them, and that is their own conviction, affirmed Mirta González, Antonio Guerrero’s mother, in an interview at the end of the program. That has been highly valuable in relation to their optimism, will and resoluteness, she said.

Index | Judicial Process and Prison -- International Solidarity -- Terrorism against the Island -- Testimony by the heroes
They will return -- Gallery
E-Mail: correo@granma.cip.cu

Up