Vol. 71/No. 32      September 3, 2007

The defense argued that the convictions of the Cuban Five should be set aside because of misconduct by the trial prosecutor, and insufficient evidence presented by the government for its charges of “conspiracy” and “conspiracy to commit murder.”

“This hearing was one more step in the long appeal process of these five men,” said Leonard Weinglass one of their defense attorneys.

More than 100 supporters of freedom for the five political prisoners attended the hearing. Among those attending were Dagoberto Rodríguez, head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., and Roberto González, brother of René González, one of the jailed Cubans. Prominent jurists from the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Puerto Rico also attended.

“We are optimistic about the hearing, because more people are learning the truth about the case,” said Roberto González. He pointed to prominent articles that appeared in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on the case the previous day and on the day of the appeal.

Gerardo Hernández, Fernando González, René González, Antonio Guerrero, and Ramón Labañino were convicted in a frame-up trial in 2001 on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage, of being unregistered foreign agents, and—in the case of Hernández—conspiracy to commit murder. Guerrero and Labañino were given life sentences, and René González and Fernando González were sentenced to 15 and 19 years, respectively. Hernández received a double life sentence.

The five were in the United States on a mission from the Cuban government to monitor the activities of Cuban-American counterrevolutionary organizations based in Miami that have a history of carrying out violent attacks against Cuba with the complicity of the U.S. government.  
 
 
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