CUBA-Alarcon: New Prevarication by US Against Five

Alarcon: New Prevarication by the US against the Five

HAVANA, Cuba, May 30 (acn) The manipulations of the US District
Attorney’s Office are trying to prevent the Supreme Court from reviewing
the case of the Five Cuban antiterrorists, stated the Round Table, aired
by Cuban radio and television on Friday.

Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon specified that the
representatives of the US government are the ones who have presented the
complaint to obstruct justice.

Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramón Labañino
and Rene Gonzalez have been the victims of the political ill will of the
US government, in an open implementation of an antiterrorist double
standard that is protecting criminals within its territory, like Luis
Posada Carriles.

The President of the Cuban Parliament gave details of the evident
contradictions on the part of the US government and court, the
manipulation of evidence and the falsehoods in the behavior of the
District Attorney’s Office, as well as in the rulings of some judges,
while others have given good reasons for the innocence of the accused,
like Mrs. Crabish.

With regard to prospects in the case of The Five, Alarcon considered that
the judges of the Supreme Court won’t need too much time to decide to
review it or not, and said they should do so by around June 15.

What is appropriate is to withdraw the false charges presented by the US
government so the legal process of The Five concludes, and the President
of the United States can do it, he stated.

He recalled that, in May, the US District Attorney’s Office withdrew the
charges against two real spies in favor of the state of Israel, which
shows that it’s possible, on the part of Obama.

Alarcón underlined that we’re not talking about the misbehaviour of a
child, but of a government and of a legal system in the exercise of its
duties, something that is called prevarication -he explained-, since a
crime of malfeasance or malicious failure to comply with the law or by
culpable ignorance of the public functions carried out, has been
committed.

Prevarication also means fraudulent or culpable injustice by a judge or
magistrates, he clarified.

He added that these meanings apply in both cases, since the very day of
the arrest of the Five until last Friday, when the US government
presented the document opposing the Supreme Court knowing the case.

Alarcon read part of the document presented by federal district
attorney’s office, which insists on charges that the Atlanta Court of
Appeal decided to overturn along with the sentence it pronounced against
some prisoners.

He recalled that the appeal magistrates declared that the sentences had
been wrong, since the Court didn’t find that they had collected or
transmitted secret information, which continues to be ignored by the US
government.

The US Supreme Court must decide if it will admit the revision of the
cases presented by the defence lawyers or not, which have been backed by
12 Amicus Curiae signed by 10 Nobel Prize winners and other
personalities, the interest of whom is to contribute to a better
understanding of the arbitrariness committed.

Alarcon said that the reply by the defence lawyers to the
document written by the US government was presented on Wednesday on 10
pages, in which it emphasized that it is the only trial in history that
has been condemned by the United Nations, a fact that the US government
ignores, as it is doing with the dozen Amicus Curiae received.

He added that the number of Amicus is greater than that of any other
previous case submitted to the Supreme Court, and tackles four
fundamental aspects.

The first of them deals with the racial discrimination to which the
selection of the jury that acted in the hearing against The Five was
submitted.

Another issue is the venue of the trial in Miami, contested at the time
by the defence with enough reasons to prove the probability of bias. The
experience of Elián González, the Cuban child, kidnapped by Florida-based
mafia members and in the end returned to his father in Cuba, was still
fresh.

The defence counsel maintains the obvious, Alarcon pointed out: There is
no evidence that Gerardo Hernandez had anything to do with the events
that led to the incident of the airplanes that flew over Cuban airspace,
which was even admitted in a document issued by the US government in May
2001.

Nevertheless, Gerardo is the only person on this planet serving a life
sentence for something he was not accused of when he was declared guilty.

This is the best proof that the venue for that trial was inadmissible,
since only a jury selected in Miami could reach such an absurd ruling, he
explained.

The fourth element put forward by the defence to the Supreme Court is
about an act of discrimination, since the Court of Appeal decided to
overturn the sentence against Ramon and Antonio, but it didn’t do the
same with regard to Gerardo, for whom it incredibly ratified two life
sentences.

It has been amply demonstrated that the grounds for their sentences were
false.

In the case of charge two, of espionage, the Atlanta Court of Appeal came
to the conclusion that it did not exist, since there was no transmission
of secret information.

The President of the Cuban Parliament showed a letter addressed to
president elect Barack Obama on December 15, 2008 by the ex-governor of
Puerto Rico, in which he requested the Supreme Court to investigate the
assassination of Carlos Muñiz Varela, perpetrated 30 years ago.

The letter specifies that, despite the fact that the Federal Bureau of
Investigations has evidence that would facilitate the indictment of the
culprits, it has not provided them, and mentions the names of the
criminals.

Alarcon and lawyer Jose Pertierra, who represents Venezuela in the
request to extradite terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, also requested
President Obama to act in accordance with law and justice, and assume the
moral rectification of the United States for having incited terror all
these years.
http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2009/0530ALARCON.htm

JUVENTUD REBELDE

Lawyers of the Five Respond to the Document
Presented by the U.S. General Attorney's Office

Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada, president of the Cuban Parliament,
made it known in the TV program The Round Table
By: Nylian Vazquez Garcia
Email: digital@jrebelde.cip.cu
30 de mayo de 2009 01:32:51 GMT

The president of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, announced on Friday, during the prime time TV program The Round Table, that the defense of the five Cuban antiterrorists has already presented the response to the U.S. government's opposition to the Supreme Court revising the case.

Although they had ten days to lay out the arguments that responded to the document presented by the General Attorney's Office on Friday May 22, counsels for the defense of Gerardo Hernández, René González, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and Ramón Labañino handed them in on Wednesday 27, just two days later. The document gives the reasons for asking the highest legal authority of the United States to review the case, and that it be part of the scant two percent that the Court takes on each year.

«So much deferment just to start lying!», commented Alarcon, who recalled that on several occasions Washington had requested more time to, in the end, present its opposition to the proposal for revision put forth by the defense, supported also by 12 Amicus curiae (Friends of the court) briefs.

Alarcon explained that the document presented by the government—already responded to by the defense to avoid any excuse that they tried to delay—contains lies from the very first paragraph. Because, it maintains that—although it has been recognized by other circuits that it is unproven—the five Cubans gathered and passed on secret information, even though the Court of Appeals of Atlanta had already annulled those charges.

The president of the Cuban Parliament specified that the defense lawyers' document recalls that this has been the only trial denounced by the United Nations, and that the U.S. authorities are ignoring the Amicus reports presented to the Court signed by thousands of world personalities, in a number that goes without precedent.

He detailed the four essential arguments on which the new response by the defense is based: 1) the racial discrimination in the selection of the jury, 2) the partiality of the venue of the trial or the need for a fair venue, 3) the absence of proof against Gerardo Hernández for his alleged implication in the downing by Cuba of two small planes, 4) the fact that the Court of Appeals of Atlanta had already annulled the sentences of two of the five accused on the same charge as that of Gerardo; however the sentence remained on him alone.

This demonstrated that the initial accusations were false; the Court of Atlanta had already said that there never was any search for or transmission of secret information; nevertheless the authorities have continued the crime of prevarication for more than ten years.

"The government prevaricated and the judges also prevaricated," noted Alarcon.

During the TV show, Alarcon underlined the negative implications of the erroneous and reprehensible behavior of the judges and the federal government in the exercise of their functions.

"The most important thing is that we are in the first phase of this battle: to get the case to be part of the two percent of the cases that are revised by the Court," he insisted. He said that the Supreme Court will announce its decision around June 15.

"The only solution is the retraction of the false accusations presented by the government and the return of the Five to Cuba... The President of the United States can do it," Alarcon said, recalling how to two spies who had gathered truly sensitive information for a foreign country recently had their charges dropped by the White House.

"If President Barack Obama wants to convince the world that there truly is a change, he has to demonstrate it with actions and not just with words," he declared.

The television program also discussed the "interesting turn" in the prosecution in the U.S. of terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who for the first time has been implicated in the murder in Havana of Italian tourist Fabio Di Celmo, although he is only accused of having lied when the authorities asked him if he knew the Salvadoran who placed=2 0the bombs in the Cuban hotels in1997.

Jose Pertierra, the lawyer who represents Venezuela in the extradition process followed against Posada, maintains that in this matter there is a malicious failure of justice, because the terrorist is still not being tried for the true crimes committed. Pertierra said though that they will continue to pursue the issue in such organizations as the United Nations and the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries (NAM) to press Washington to accept the extradition.

"Posada Carriles is not a liar, he is a terrorist," asserted Pertierra.

The U.S. lawyer agreed with the leader of the Cuban Parliament that the President Obma can change the situation in both cases, liberating the Five and prosecuting Posada Carriles.

JUVENTUD REBELDE

Abogados de los Cinco responden al documento presentado por la Fiscalía
Lo dio a conocer Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, presidente del Parlamento cubano, en el espacio televisivo de la Mesa Redonda
Por: Nylian Vázquez García
Correo: digital@jrebelde.cip.cu
30 de mayo de 2009 01:32:51 GMT

El presidente de la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular, Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, anunció este viernes en el espacio de la Mesa Redonda que la defensa de los cinco antiterroristas cubanos presentó ya la respuesta a la oposición del gobierno estadounidense para que la Corte Suprema revise el caso.

Aunque tenían diez días para exponer los argumentos que respondieran al documento presentado por la Fiscalía el viernes 22 de mayo, los abogados defensores de Gerardo Hernández, René González, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González y Ramón Labañino entregaron este miércoles 27 —solo dos días después— el documento que vuelve sobre las razones para pedir que la máxima autoridad legal de los Estados Unidos revise el caso, y que este forme parte del escaso dos por ciento que cada año toma la Corte.

«¡Tanta prórroga para comenzar mintiendo!», comentó Alarcón, quien recordó que Washington había pedido en varias ocasiones más tiempo para, al final, presentar su oposición a la propuesta de revisión de la defensa, apoyada además por los 12 Amicus curiae (Amigos de la corte).

Alarcón explicó que el documento presentado por el gobierno —respondido ya por los defensores para evitar cualquier excusa que intente demorar— miente desde el primer párrafo, porque insiste —aunque ha sido reconocido por otros circuitos que no es cierto—, en que nuestros cinco luchadores antiterroristas reunieron y transmitieron información secreta. Incluso, cuando la Corte de Apelaciones de Atlanta ya había anulado esos cargos.

El Presidente del Parlamento cubano precisó que nuestro documento parte de recordar que este ha sido el único juicio condenado por las Naciones Unidas, y que las autoridades norteamericanas ignoran los Amicus prese ntados por miles de personalidades en el mundo, en una cantidad sin precedentes enviados a la Corte.

Detalló los cuatro argumentos esenciales en los que se basa la nueva respuesta de la defensa: 1) La discriminación racial en la selección del jurado, 2) La parcialidad de la sede o la necesidad de una sede justa, 3) La ausencia de pruebas contra Gerardo Hernández en la supuesta implicación en el derribo de las avionetas, 4) El hecho de que la Corte de Apelaciones de Atlanta ya había anulado las sentencias de dos de los cinco acusados del mismo cargo que Gerardo; sin embargo solo a él se mantuvo la sentencia.

Está demostrado que las acusaciones iniciales eran falsas; la Corte de Atlanta ya había dicho que no hubo búsqueda o transmisión de información secreta; no obstante las autoridades se mantienen cometiendo el delito de prevaricación por más de diez años.

«El gobierno prevaricó y también prevaricaron los jueces», apuntó.

Durante la Mesa Redonda, Alarcón subrayó las implicaciones negativas de la errónea y reprobable actuación de los jueces y del gobierno federal en el ejercicio de sus funciones.

«Lo más importante es que estamos en la primera fase de la batalla: lograr formar parte del dos por cierto de casos que son revisados por la Corte», insistió, al tiempo que recordó que el máximo tribunal deberá pronunciarse alrededor del 15 de junio.

«La única solución es el retiro de las acusaciones falsas presentadas por el gobierno y el regreso (de los Cinco) a Cuba... El Presidente de los Estados Unidos puede hacerlo», dijo el titular de la Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular, quien recordó cómo a dos espías, que sí recopilaron información sensible para un Estado extranjero, les fueron retirados los cargos por la Casa Blanca.

«Si el presidente Barack Obama quiere convencer al mundo de que en verdad hay un cambio, tiene que demostrarlo con hechos y no con palabras», apuntó.

Durante el espacio televisivo también se abordó «el giro interesante» que ha tenido el enjuiciamiento de Posada Carriles, quien por primera vez es involucrado con el asesinato de Fabio Di Celmo, aunque solo se le acusa de haber mentido cuando las autoridades le preguntaron si conocía al salvadoreño que colocó las bombas de 1997 en los hoteles cubanos.

José Pertierra, abogado que representa a Venezuela en el proceso de extradición de Posada, sostuvo que en este tema hay incumplimiento malicioso de la justicia, porque aún el terrorista no es procesado por los verdaderos crímenes cometidos. Además, expuso que se continúan haciendo gestiones en el marco de organizaciones como las Naciones Unidas o el Movimiento de Países No Alineados (NOAL) para presionar a Washington y que se acepte la extradición.

«Posada no es un mentiroso, es un terrorista», asegur3.

Casi al final, el letrado coincidió con el titular del Parlamento cubano: «El Presidente de EE.UU. puede cambiar la situación de ambos casos, liberar a los Cinco y enjuiciar a Posada Carriles».

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