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Last May 27 marked one year since a
United Nations Human Rights Commission Working Group on Arbitrary
Detentions ruled that the imprisonment of five Cubans, Gerardo
Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero,
Fernando González and René González, was
arbitrary and contravened Article 14 of the International Convention
for Civil and Political Rights. The Group urged the U.S. government
to adopt measures necessary to seek a solution to the situation.
One of the special mechanisms
by which the U.N. Human Rights Commission works, the Working
Group on Arbitrary Detentions was established in May of 2005
and comprises experts from Spain, Hungary , Iran, Paraguay and
Algeria. Thus, three of the experts came from countries whose
governments are U.S. allies.
The Group adopted the measure
in response to a petition that the families of the five men made
personally in Geneva in 2003, after evaluating arguments brought
by both relatives and the U.S. government.
The U.S. government rejected
the Working Group's opinion, once again making a mockery of justice
in its application in the case of the Cuban Five.
The men have now been unjustly
incarcerated for eight years after an arrest and trial that were
based on false accusations.
It's now been more than 10
months since a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court
of Appeals ruled unanimously to reverse the sentences of the
Five and ordered a new trial, but they remain in prison.
Using a complicated appeals
process that is nothing short of derisory, the five innocent
men remain behind bars under arduous conditions.
The decision by the Working
Group is extremely important because it is the accepted mechanism
by which member states of the United Nations evaluate criteria
on aspects of international law in relation to such cases.
Upon what was the U.N. group's
decision based? The following is quoted from its opinion relating
to the Five:
"Following their arrest,
and notwithstanding the fact that the detainees had been informed
of their right to remain silent and had their defense provided
by the Government, they were kept in solitary confinement for
17 months, during which communication with their attorneys, and
access to evidence and thus, possibilities to a adequate defense
were weakened, ...
"As the case was classified
as one of national security, access by the detainees to the documents
that contained evidence was impaired. The Government has not
contested the fact that defense lawyers had very limited access
to evidence because of this classification, negatively affecting
their ability to present counter evidence ...
" the Government has not
denied that even so, the climate of bias and prejudice against
the accused in Miami persisted and helped to present the accused
as guilty from the beginning. It was not contested by the Government
that one year later it admitted that Miami was an unsuitable
place for a trial where it proved almost impossible to select
an impartial jury in a case linked with Cuba.
"The Working Group notes
that it arises from the facts and circumstances in which the
trial took place and from the nature of the charges and the harsh
sentences given to the accused, that the trial did not take place
in the climate of objectivity and impartiality which is required
in order to conclude on the observance of the standards of a
fair trial, as defined in Article 14 of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights, to which the United States of
America is a party.
"The Working Group concludes
that the three elements that were enunciated above, combined
together, are of such gravity that they confer the deprivation
of liberty of these five persons an arbitrary character.
" the Working Group requests
the Government to adopt the necessary steps to remedy the situation,
in conformity with the principles stated in the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."
This opinion agrees with and
confirms the essential arguments of the Cuban Five defense team
and the decision of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals that
in August reversed their sentences and annulled their trial.
We all know the response of
the United States government before this distressing proof of
iniquity, which clearly demonstrates its utter lack of respect
for law and justice.
Andrés Gómez is a Cuban-American resident in the
United States and director of the magazine Areitodigital.
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