------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the June 10, 2004 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
CAMPAIGN FOR CUBAN 5 AT CRITICAL POINT
By Julie Fry
Any day now, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will announce its decision on whether it will overturn the convictions of the Cuban Five, political prisoners in the United States. Gerardo Hernandez, Anto nio Guerrero, Ram�n Laba�ino, Fernan do Gonz�lez and Ren� Gonz�lez were arrested for trying to prevent violent attacks on Cuban and U.S. citizens by right-wing groups in Miami.
The defense team for the five have filed a several-hundred-page appellate brief with the Court of Appeals extensively documenting many violations of law and the Constitution committed by the prosecutors in the original trial of the five in Miami. The defense team also showed that the five did not receive a fair trial because of the overwhelming weight of anti-Cuba forces in Miami that undoubtedly influenced the jury.
The three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit recently requested more documentation from the defense team for all the points raised in the appeal. It is not clear what this request means for the five prisoners, but it does indicate that the judges have not made a decision yet.
It is therefore crucial that activists take this opportunity to build heightened support for the five.
The Cuban Five have been held in inhuman conditions in U.S. jails. Although model prisoners, they were kept in solitary confinement for over a year. Several have also been denied the right to visit with their wives and children.
Contingents in support of the five will march at the major anti- occupation rallies on June 5. They will be demanding freedom for the Cuban Five and an end to U.S. aggression toward Cuba.
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