US Supreme Court To Revise Cuban Five Case in January 2009

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 25. The Cuban Five’s defense attorneys will request the US Supreme Court to revise the sentences of their defendants and issue a venue, other than Miami, to held a new trial.

The appeal for justice will be presented at the US Supreme Court before January 30, said one of the prisoners’ defense attorneys Richard Klugh.

The Cuban Five: Rene Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero,
Ramon Labañino and Fernando Gonzalez, have been in prison since
September 12, 1998 for infiltrating counterrevolutionary organizationsin Florida to prevent terrorist attacks against Cuba, reported Prensa Latina.

In an interview with the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, attorney Richard Klugh pointed out that the appeal will request that allof the sentences be revised, after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals of Atlanta refused to grant a change of venue, or recognize the misconduct of the prosecution and the improper and discriminatory jury selection in the Cubans’ trial in 2001 held in Miami.

Klugh said one of the fundamental aspects that should be revised by the court is the issue of a new venue, in accordance with US legislation and under any legal system.

“If you have a judge or jury who is likely to be influenced by local passions and pressures, what you have is a mob rule and you don’t have justice in any sense,” noted Klugh about the Miami trial.

Klugh said that in making the appeal the defense team has the assistance of lawyer Thomas Goldstein of the firm Akin Gump, who has lots of experience in cases before the Supreme Court.