Havana - Cuba condemned the decision of a United States court upholding the sentences against two of the so-called Cuban Five, facing prison for espionage and conspiracy to commit murder in the United States, Cuban media reported Thursday. Cuban officials stressed the men will appeal the decision, if necessary as far as the US Supreme Court.
Cuba claims the five agents were not carrying out intelligence tasks against the United States but were instead monitoring armed anti-Castro activists on US soil.
A three-judge panel in Atlanta, Georgia, last week upheld the sentences of Gerardo Hernandez, who faces two sentences of life in prison and one of 15 years in jail, and Rene Gonzalez, facing 15 years in jail.
Along with three other Cubans, they were arrested in late 1998 in Miami and are currently in prison in the United States. The US argued they sent Cuba information that led to two civilian planes being shot down, lied about their identities, tried to infiltrate the US Southern Command headquarters in West Miami-Dade, Florida, and sent Cuba classified information.
"We are going to appeal, we are going to request that the panel review its action. We propose to use all the elements and arguments. We are going to appeal to the Atlanta Circuit Court's plenum of judges and the US Supreme Court," Cuban Parliament Speaker Ricardo Alarcon was quoted as saying in Communist Party daily Granma.
On Wednesday, in an extraordinary session, the Cuban Parliament's International Relations Commission unanimously approved a statement condemning the Atlanta court decision, Granma said. Legislators called the decision "absurd" and defined it as a "new manipulation."
In an appeal filed in August at the Atlanta court, Cuba's lawyers demanded a new trial for the suspects.
