[Ppnews] Attorneys for the Cuban Five on case's perpectives

[Political Prisoner News]

Attorneys for the Cuban Five on case's perpectives

Radio Havana Cuba
2009-07-14

July 12th, 2009

http://tinyurl. com/lmwlx9

Attorneys for the Cuban Five were in Havana the 
last weekend and answered some questions on the 
case's perpectives to Radio Havana Cuba. "The 
efforts on behalf of the Five have not concluded, 
indeed they haven't slowed down. There are three 
efforts underway now: First, the legal team is 
preparing for the resentencing of three of them. 
The second does very much involve Gerardo: the 
post conviction legal filings. Third, there is 
also a political effort, since this case has 
always been a principal concern of the Cuban 
government and the international community."

Question: Could you give us your perspective on 
where we stand in the case of the Cuban Five?

Thomas Goldstein (expert on Supreme Court litigation):
The direct appeals in the case of the Cuban Five 
have concluded with the severe disappointment of 
the U.S. Supreme Court not agreeing to review the 
case. We obviously believe that the Supreme Court 
should have considered the serious flaws in the 
case and should have reversed the convictions of 
the Five. But the efforts on behalf of the Five 
have not concluded, indeed they haven't slowed down.

There are three efforts underway now. First, the 
legal team in the United States previously won a 
victory regarding the sentences imposed on three 
of the five [Antonio, Ramón and Fernando]. And 
now the lawyers are preparing for the 
resentencing, which is likely to occur before the 
end of the year, and then we will learn the 
length of the terms of imprisonment. We are 
optimistic that the judge will take into account 
the horrible effect that the long terms of 
imprisonment have had on the Five and their 
families, the recognition from the international 
community of all the flaws in the case, and will 
impose a sentence that is substantially shorter. 
But this is a question that the judge will have to compare.

Question: So Gerardo (Hernández) is not involved in the re-sentencing?

GOLDSTEIN: For the resentencing, the first of 
these three efforts does not involve Gerardo. The 
second does very much involve Gerardo. In the 
U.S. Criminal Justice System, there is the direct 
appeal, which has just concluded. Then there is 
the post conviction judicial process. In cases in 
federal court, this is sometimes called 22-55. 
That's the number of the statute. And the legal 
team is now working very hard on the post 
conviction legal filings. Those must be commenced 
by June of next year. It can be sooner, but that 
is the time that it must be filed. And the legal 
team intends to press the argument that the 
convictions are entirely invalid. And one of the 
principal arguments will be the absurdity of the 
conviction of Gerardo for conspiracy to commit 
murder. We believe that we will be able to show 
the court that there is new evidence that the 
court never considered that he had nothing to do 
with any plan to kill anyone in the U.S. 
jurisdiction or anywhere else, and the legal team 
and the families remain very focussed on correcting that injustice.

Third, there is also a political effort. I'm not 
a diplomat and this is a question that arises 
between the governments, but we are aware that 
among the issues that will be discussed between 
the governments will be the case of the Five. 
This has always been a principal concern of the 
Cuban government and the international community. 
It's been raised by other nations, other 
governments, with the United States, and it is 
possible that there will be a political solution 
-- for a case that has obvious political 
overtones. So we're hopeful there, as well, that 
as the relationships between the two governments 
can improve and that the case of the Five can be 
a part of that; that there can be a new beginning 
of sorts. The lawyers can help, but this is again 
a question of diplomacy rather than what happens in a court.

QUESTION: Does the work of the attorneys include 
a possible appeal to the President (Barack Obama)?

GOLDSTEIN: The work of the attorneys absolutely 
does include making appeals to the U.S. 
government to take action in the case. But we 
also recognize that this is part of the broader 
diplomatic discussions between the countries. So 
it will involve both the lawyers and the families but also the governments.

LEONARD WEINGLASS (attorney for Antonio):

René Gonzalez will not go back for re-sentencing, 
and neither will Gerardo. The three who will go 
back for re-sentencing will face a new set of 
sentencing rules that are different than the 
rules of 2001. Under these new rules, the life 
sentences we believe will go away and there will 
be new sentences that are less than life. We will 
be asking for sharp reductions in their terms. Of 
course Fernando's sentence will be reduced, 
probably down to approximately 15 years.

For Antonio and Ramón, there will not be a life 
sentence any longer, but we don't know what range 
of years they will receive. However, we're 
relatively sure that with this reduction in 
sentence, they will go to a different type of 
prison. A prison that is not as severe as the 
prisons that they have been in. So to answer your 
question, I cannot predict now what their 
sentences will be be, expect I can assure you 
that the sentences for the three will come down. 
And there will not be life sentences. But there 
will be a set term of years, which I cannot 
predict. In short, we anticipate an improvement in the sentencing of the three.

QUESTION: In the re-sentencing, they forgot 
Gerardo. Why is that, since he had two life sentences?

WEINGLASS: Gerardo should have been included. We 
don't agree with the court's failure to send 
Gerardo back. But if we succeed in eliminating 
the conspiracy to commit murder charge, which we 
are working on now, then Gerardo will be sent 
back for re-sentencing, the same as Ramón and 
Antonio. So we first have to eliminate the 
conspiracy to commit murder charge which we hope we can do.

PHIL HOROWITZ (attorney for René):

The actions that are going to be taken to 
eliminate that count (conspiracy to commit 
murder), speaking in general terms as René's 
attorney, efforts are going to be made to show 
that there is other evidence out there that was 
not produced at the trial. This will show that 
Gerardo had no involvement in the allegations of 
Count Three. And the efforts are continuing to 
absolve Gerardo of all responsibility as to Count Three.

As for René not being taken into consideration 
for resentencing, there is very little that can 
be done in his case. I'm not saying that there is 
nothing that can be done, but there's little; not 
as much as the other four. René's case is very 
different in that René was sentenced in 2001 to a 
term of imprisonment of 15 years. As we sit here, 
almost 11 years after René's arrest, his sentence 
is due to expire in a little more than two years; 
approximately 27 months. And at time, René looks 
forward to returning home, to his wife and his 
children. And he has not been able to see his 
wife since 2001. And he looks forward to the opportunity to come home.

The remaining 27 months that he has is on his 
prison sentence and his prison sentence only. His 
release date is October 11, 2011. Barring any 
changes, he'll be in prison until that time. So 
he won't be reporting to a parole officer or 
another officer. He'll just remain in the same 
situation that he is now, barring any changes 
over the next two years. Upon release, René will 
have three years of supervised release, which is 
the equivalent of probation. We expect to ask the 
court, for obvious compassionate reasons, as a 
Cuban citizen, to be able to return home to his family.

QUESTION: For "compassion, " he has not been able to see his wife..."

HOROWITZ: He has not been able to see his wife 
since approximately August of 2001. And the U.S. 
government has consistently denied his wife Olga's desire to go see him.

I know continuing efforts are being made for 
visas, with the change in administration in 
Washington, the hope for the issuance of visas 
has increased. And we hope to see some positive results in the near future.

BILL NORRIS (attorney for Ramón):

The court has set October 13th as the date for 
the resentencing. That's a preliminary date and 
there is much that we must do to prepare for 
that. The first step, obviously, is to have the 
three who are to be resentenced return to Miami 
so that we meet with them for purposes of 
preparing to go to court. The second thing is to 
obtain from the court the directives from the 
government to give us the additional information 
that we need to prepare to represent them 
adequately. And the third thing is to discuss 
with the government the possibilities of 
narrowing the issues and agreeing to a result 
that is fair for the three. And by fairness, of 
course, we mean their earliest return to Cuba.



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