Supreme Court: No Re-Trial For "Cuban Five" Convicted Of Spying

MIAMI — Cuban exiles said Monday they were relieved the Supreme Court refused to review the convictions of five intelligence agents for the communist country, despite calls from Nobel Prize winners and international legal groups to consider the case.

The convictions stand against the so-called "Cuban Five," who maintain they did not receive a fair trial because of strong anti-Castro sentiment in Miami. The men have been lionized as heroes in Cuba. Exile groups say they were justly punished.

The five _ Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino (aka Luis Medina), Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez (aka Ruben Campa) _ were convicted in 2001 of being unregistered foreign agents. Three also were found guilty of conspiracy to obtain military secrets from the U.S. Southern Command headquarters.

Hernandez was convicted of murder conspiracy in the deaths of four pilots, members of the Miami-based Brothers to the Rescue organization, who were shot down by Cuban fighter jets in 1996 off the island's coast. The group sought to identify and help migrants leaving Cuba by sea. The Cuban government maintains the planes violated its airspace to scatter political pamphlets over the island.

Richard Klugh, a Miami-based attorney for the five, said he was disappointed. He and other attorneys were reviewing their options.

Brothers to the Rescue President Jose Basulto, the sole survivor of the shooting, said the Supreme Court did the right thing.

"Those four young men didn't deserve to die like that," said Basulto, a veteran of the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. "Fine, I'm a sworn enemy of Cuba, but those men weren't."

Basulto said the Cuban government relies on spies like the Cuban Five _ and most recently retired State Department officer Walter Kendall Myers and his wife _ for information it can use or trade. The Myerses were arrested June 4 in Washington on charges they spied for Havana for three decades.

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"This is a business they have," Basulto said. "If you're a spy, you're a spy. You've got to pay the consequencnes."

In 2005, a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Atlanta initially reversed the convictions, agreeing the trial should have been moved from Miami because the defendants couldn't get a fair trial there.

The full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the convictions. But new sentences were ordered for Guerro and Medina, both of whom are serving life sentences, as well as Fernando Gonzalez. A judge is expected to re-sentence them in the coming months.

Hernandez is serving a life term, while Rene Gonzalez has about two years left on a 15-year sentence.

Hernandez said in a statement released through the Cuban government Monday that he was not surprised by the decision.

"Now I have no doubt that our case has been, from the beginning, a political case, not only because we have all the legal arguments for the Court to review it, but also because we have growing international support," he said.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, also said she was pleased with Monday's ruling.

"Let this be a lesson to those who continue to spy for the Cuban regime, and other state sponsors of terrorism _ justice will be done," she said in a statement.

Defense lawyers maintain the men were trying to gather information to prevent exile groups from waging more attacks such as the bombings at Havana hotels that killed an Italian tourist in 1997. In Cuba, their photos appear in billboards and on posters in hotels.

Ten Nobel Prize winners, including Guatemalan human rights activist Rigoberta Menchu and German author Gunter Grass, as well as lawyers and advocates from more than a dozen countries, had urged the high court to intervene.

Ricardo Alarcon, head of Cuba's largely ceremonial parliament, rejected the high court's decision, saying in a statement that its "judges did what the Obama Administration asked them."

The ruling "shows one more time the arbitrariness of a corrupt and hypocritical court system and its cruel brutality toward our Five Heroes," the statement said.

Even in Miami, not everyone was pleased.

Andres Gomez, head of a coalition of Cuban-American groups that favor normalizing relations with the island, said the U.S. must repudiate past efforts to overthrow the country's communist government to renew dialogue with Cuba. Releasing the Cuban Five would help, he said, noting President Barack Obama has the power to pardon them.

However, such a step looks unlikely. The Obama administration has contended the convictions were fairly won.

___

Associated Press Writer Will Weissert contributed to this story from Havana.

(This version CORRECTS spelling of congresswoman's first name to 'Ileana.')

Comments

[AlinaM]

This case started by the Clinton administration and perpetuated by the Obama administration is a terrible blunder. The clear tie here appears to be Eric Holder. Charges were levied against human beings to avenge the death of 4 people and possibly the blunder carried out against the family of Elian Gonzalez. A hurt and humiliated community rose in a lot of pain and committed another crime by charging and convicting 5 people for crimes that they clearly did not commit. The 5 were convicted based on the preponderance of the evidence in a criminal proceeding and not by an impartial jury. There is a rare person in Miami who either does not employ, lives near or befriends someone who was affected by Elian Gonzalez fiasco or the death of the 4 Brothers It is about time that the Huffington Post covered this blunder. The 5 should be pardoned and sent home so that we may be able to cleanse ourselves of this terrible crime.
I am a Cuban American and I am ashamed of this blunder as much as I am of the assault on the family on Elian and his family. I also mourn for the 4 brothers who were unnecessarily killed. However the guilty parties continue to remain in Cuba and not in US jails.

[av2ts]

The Cuban Five trial was the only judicial proceeding in U.S. history condemned by the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Ten Nobel Prize winners had also petitioned the U.S. attorney general, calling for freedom for the five. A lower court most familiar with the case had already ruled that the trial was unfair given the location in Miami and the charged atmosphere surrounding (the trial took place not long after the Elian Gonzalez affair).

This case is an outrage. These Cubans were doing nothing more than trying to gather information on terrorist plots directed against Cuba, from South Florida. For those who don't know many groups operate para-military training camps in Florida. When Cuba provided evidence to the FBI against detected plots, the FBI ignored everything and arrested the source of the information - the Cuban Five. These 5 are not spies. They did not gather ANY classified or national intelligence related information. It was all defensive in nature. The murder charge against Mr. Hernandez is particularly absurd.

Compare this injustice to the recent (Israeli) spy case, Ben-Ami Kadish, who stole actual critically important US national security documents. The judge said he did massive damage to our security but released him after just 2 years "time service" on recommendation from the same Obama Justice Department. The Cubans are facing 25 years, while Mr. Herndandez faces life in prison.

Free the Five!

[LMPE]

This was a politically motivated trial from the start.

[ramblin jack]

Once again the Obama administration taking a conservative stance on an issue that is sensitive and might cause some pain.