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ON
Wednesday, June 4, the 11th Circuit Court of
Appeals in Atlanta issued its decision on the
appeal submitted by the defense.
In a
99-page ruling, and by unanimous decision, the
three judges upheld the guilty verdicts against
the five Cuban patriots and annulled the
sentences of three of them, who must be
re-sentenced.
They
ratified the sentences of René González (15
years in prison) and Gerardo Hernández (two life
sentences plus 15 years).
The
decision on Gerardo’s sentence was 2-1, not
unanimous. Judge Kravitch said in a 16-page
statement that the government failed to provide
sufficient evidence to charge Gerardo with
conspiracy to commit murder.
The
cases of Ramón Labañino (life imprisonment plus
18 years), Fernando González (19 years) and
Antonio Guerrero (life imprisonment plus 10
years) were sent back to federal court Judge
Joan Lenard in Florida for re-sentencing.
Lenard must hold a new hearing to issue that
ruling. This is the same judge who imposed the
onerous and unjust sentences on the Five in
2001.
The
Atlanta court ruled that the arguments of the
defense lacked merit. The use of political terms
in the court’s ruling is stunning; it is a far
cry from legal institutions and it is
pro-government.
The
judges’ decision leaves open several
contradictions between the opinions of two of
them and the statement written and signed by
Judge Pryor, an extremely conservative judge who
was appointed thanks to the current Republican
presidential candidate, McCain, despite Senate
opposition.
Defense attorneys Weinglass, MacKenna and
Horowitz said they would continue the legal
battle begun in December 2001, when the Five
were unjustly sentenced. Legally, there are
roads to follow.
Beyond the all of the legal tricks used by the
U.S. government to prolong the unjust
imprisonment of our five brothers, this court
ruling is not surprising; on the contrary, it
reaffirms for us even more the need to continue
fighting tirelessly to expose this colossal
injustice.
Once
more, the cynicism of the U.S. government has
been laid bare; on that same day, in another
U.S. city, it continued with its farce to
protect the criminal Luis Posada Carriles, who
is enjoying total freedom, instead of
classifying him as a terrorist for his crimes
against humanity and extraditing him to
Venezuela, whose government has been asking for
that for three years, given that he is a
fugitive of that country’s justice system.
For
Gerardo, the ruling is not surprising. "This is
the same justice system that has kept Mumia,
Leonard Peltier and the Puerto Rican political
prisoners incarcerated for more than 20 years,"
he told us this morning. "We’ll do all the time
we have to do, 30 years, 40, whatever, and as
long as a single one of you is outside
resisting, we are also going to resist, until
justice is done."
Gerardo asked us to transmit all of his
confidence. "Tell everyone who asks that I am
fine and feeling strong, and to keep up the
fight."
Together with our friends, committees and
brothers and sisters of the world, we call for
redoubling the demand for freedom for the Five,
to mobilize starting tomorrow, June 6, in every
way possible, as we will do in the United
States, Europe and Latin America, in front of
the offices of the terrorist government of the
United States, which is keeping our five
brothers in prison.
Only
solidarity, constant denunciation and
international mobilization will achieve freedom
for the Five.
International Committee to Free the Five
Granma 06-06-2008 |
