Declaration of the Commission on Constitutional and Judicial Affairs of the Cuban National Assembly of People's Power
Havana, August 15, 2006
The Commission on Constitutional and Judicial Affairs of the Cuban National Assembly of People's Power, expresses its indignation at the decision of the full Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, in ruling against the Cuban Five. By invalidating the unanimous verdict of a panel of three judges that dissolved the celebrated Miami trial of anti-terrorist Cuban fighters Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, René González and Antonio Guerrero, the court departs from legal principle.
This decision is once more evidence of the political character of the trial and the unjust measures adopted, along with the arbitrary nature of the U.S. government and its violations of its own laws and Constitution as well as the most elementary norms of law and, specifically, human rights.
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, and public statements by terrorists who with total impunity admit to their crimes. This confirms the need to monitor such groups – work that the Cuban Five were carrying out in Miami to detect the violent actions planned against Cuba that have resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians, and that provide new and dramatic evidence in their defense – especially the universal principle of defense being a state of necessity.
Also ignored was a decision by the U.N. Human Rights Commission Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions that stated that in view of the facts and circumstances in which the trial took place along with the accompanying charges and the severe sentences meted out, 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 declared their imprisonment arbitrary requesting that the U.S. government immediately adopt such measures necessary to remediate the privationsto which these men are being submitted.
We condemn this infamous and ignominious decision and call on parliamentarians across the world, along with all those who care for justice, to unite in this noble and just cause. We call upon and demand of the U.S. government that the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters immediately be freed. They fought for the life and peace of the people of Cuba and the United States itself, and in September will have completed eight years of unjust imprisonment. Great limits are imposed on their family visits where two of them have not even been allowed to see their spouses.
The International Days for the Freedom of the Five, that will take place between September 12 and October 6, should be used to continue and increase the fight for truth and justice for our brothers and for the development of a large movement in parliaments and the law community so that the universal principles of law make possible the return to Cuba of these compatriots.
The Commission on Constitutional and Judicial Affairs of the Cuban National Assembly of People's Power, expresses its indignation at the decision of the full Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, in ruling against the Cuban Five. By invalidating the unanimous verdict of a panel of three judges that dissolved the celebrated Miami trial of anti-terrorist Cuban fighters Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, René González and Antonio Guerrero, the court departs from legal principle.
This decision is once more evidence of the political character of the trial and the unjust measures adopted, along with the arbitrary nature of the U.S. government and its violations of its own laws and Constitution as well as the most elementary norms of law and, specifically, human rights.
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, and public statements by terrorists who with total impunity admit to their crimes. This confirms the need to monitor such groups – work that the Cuban Five were carrying out in Miami to detect the violent actions planned against Cuba that have resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians, and that provide new and dramatic evidence in their defense – especially the universal principle of defense being a state of necessity.
Also ignored was a decision by the U.N. Human Rights Commission Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions that stated that in view of the facts and circumstances in which the trial took place along with the accompanying charges and the severe sentences meted out, 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 declared their imprisonment arbitrary requesting that the U.S. government immediately adopt such measures necessary to remediate the privationsto which these men are being submitted.
We condemn this infamous and ignominious decision and call on parliamentarians across the world, along with all those who care for justice, to unite in this noble and just cause. We call upon and demand of the U.S. government that the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters immediately be freed. They fought for the life and peace of the people of Cuba and the United States itself, and in September will have completed eight years of unjust imprisonment. Great limits are imposed on their family visits where two of them have not even been allowed to see their spouses.
The International Days for the Freedom of the Five, that will take place between September 12 and October 6, should be used to continue and increase the fight for truth and justice for our brothers and for the development of a large movement in parliaments and the law community so that the universal principles of law make possible the return to Cuba of these compatriots.
posted by Lilith | 8:15 AM
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