| By: Juventud Rebelde Email: digital@juventudrebelde.cu 2011-07-13 | 13:24:19 EST BRUSSELS, July 12.— Members of the European Parliament (MEP) from several countries headed by Spanish MEPs Miguel Ángel Martínez and Willy Meyer demanded justice in the case of five Cuban antiterrorist fighters who have been held in US prisons for more than 12 years. The group of MEPs released a letter on Wednesday written to US President Barack Obama requesting the immediate release of the five Cubans and reminding that this is not the first time that representatives from the European Parliament have highlighted the need to bring justice in the case of the five men, reported Prensa Latina. The misguided arrest of the Cuban Five —Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero and René González— in 1998 and the subsequent travesty of justice led to their convictions on multiple unsubstantiated charges in 2001. The five Cubans were working to uncover information about terrorist activities being planned and carried out against Cuba by ultra-rightwing organizations based in southern Florida with a long record of terrorist actions against Cuba and the Cuban people. When they turned their information over to authorities they were arrested and have been in jail ever since. Shortly following their incarceration a UN Working Group reviewing the case determined that the trial did not take place in a climate of objectivity and impartiality, which is required in order to conclude on the observance of the standards of a fair trial. The UN report also charges that the Cuban Five were wrongfully held for seventeen months in solitary confinement after their arrest, and that their lawyers were deprived of the opportunity to examine all of the available evidence before the government invoked the Classified Information Protection Act. Shortly following the UN ruling, on August 9, 2005, a three judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals of Atlanta issued a 93-page reversal of the initial conviction as well as nullified the sentences. In response to the reversal, the Bush administration and Attorney General Gonzales vehemently pushed for the US Solicitor General to appeal the verdict of the three-judge panel’s decision before all twelve judges of the 11th circuit in Atlanta. This time the court bowed down to pressure from the Bush administration and reversed the previous pro-Cuban Five ruling by a vote of 10-2. In 2008, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the convictions of all five prisoners, but ruled that the sentences handed down to Labañino, Guerrero, and Fernando Gonzalez were excessive. Subsequently their sentences were slightly reduced. The letter written by the Members of the European Parliament to President Obama requests that he use his presidential prerogative to end the injustice and free the Cuban Five. Miguel Ángel Martínez is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, part of the Party of European Socialists socialist and president of the Friends of Cuba Group in the European parliament. Willy Meyer is the vice president of the Friends of Cuba Group and a member of the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left. The group of 27 European MPs also spoke about the arbitrary refusal of the US government to grant visas for the wives of Gerardo and René to go and visit them. |