On August 9, 2006, exactly one year after a three judge panel from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, unanimously overturned the sentences of the Cuban Five, a majority of the full court has ruled against the decision, reconfirmed the sentences, denied the Five a new trial, and ordered the case back to the panel for consideration of the remaining issues.

Two of the three judge panel allowed to vote, Justices Byrch and Kravitch, opposed the full court’s decision and reiterated that this “was an exceptional case in which a change of venue was imperative due to the latent prejudice of the community which made a fair and impartial trial impossible.”

With this ruling the Eleventh Circuit Court has ratified the decision of the original Miami court in denying motions presented by the defense for a change of venue and a new trial.

On September 29, 2005, in a very unusual act, according to legal U.S. experts, and with the evident objective of delaying the process and keeping the Five in prison, the United States government appealed to the Atlanta court against the panel’s decision.

The panel judges, whose sum total professional experience exceeds 80 years, declared in their 93-page ruling that to “empanel an [impartial] jury in this community [of Miami] was not a reasonable probability due to the existing prejudice in the same”.

“In this case a new trial was mandated by the perfect storm created when the surge of pervasive community sentiment, and extensive publicity both before and during the trial, merged with the improper prosecutorial references”.

The ruling adopted by the Atlanta court does not take into account the atmosphere of violence and intimidation that exists in Miami, nor the most recent things that have occurred in the city and been reported by the local press, including the occupation of armories for the purpose of using weapons against Cuba, public statements by terrorists who with total impunity admit to their crimes against Cuba. All this confirms Miami as the only city where a fair and impartial trial of the Five could not take place.

On May 27, 2005 the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions stated that in view of the facts and circumstances in which the trial took place, the accompanying charges and the severe sentences imposed, the trial did not take place in a climate of objectivity and impartiality necessary for the norms of a fair trial as defined in Article 14 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and consequently requested that the U.S. government adopt such measures necessary to remediate the situation.

The legal process against the Five continues to be delayed. September 12 is the eighth anniversary of the arrest of five men who should never be behind bars and who, in spite of their innocence, are confined to maximum security U.S. prisons and in some cases deprived of contact with their families.

This is not the end of the case. Far from it.

Now, as never before, it is necessary to increase the fight for the freedom of these five men, which only purpose was to fight against terrorism and to preserve human lives. We appeal to all the honest people in the world to join this battle, particularly the International Days of Action for their freedom from September 12 to October 6.

Nothing justifies their confinement.  

(Antiterroristas.cu) 11-08-2006