Cuban Five Case to go to U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 — The appeal of the Cuban Five, the anti-terrorist fighters held as political prisoners in the United States, is to be brought before the Supreme Court before January 30, according to one of their defense lawyers.

René González, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino and Fernando González have been imprisoned since September 12, 1998 for infiltrating counterrevolutionary organizations in Florida to prevent acts of terrorism against Cuba, Prensa Latina reports.

In an interview with the National Committee to Free the Five, attorney Richard Klugh said that the appeal will ask for all of their sentences to be reviewed, following the decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to deny a change of venue, incorrect conduct by prosecutors and the improper and discriminatory jury selection.

In Klugh’s opinion, the venue is one of the main aspects that need to be reviewed, in line with U.S. law itself and in any legal system.

"If you have a judge or jury who is likely to be influenced by local passions and pressure, what you have is a mob rule and you don’t have justice in any sense," he said, referring to the original trial of the Five in Miami.

Klugh noted that, in relation to this appeal, the defense has the assistance of attorney Thomas Goldstein from the legal firm Akin Gump, a lawyer of vast experience in Supreme Court cases.

Translated by Granma International