8-26-05,9:18am

ANTITERRORIST WORKING GROUP :CUBAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

The office of the Miami District Attorney, representing the United States government, has requested 30 additional days (through September 29) to decide whether or not to appeal the ruling of the Atlanta Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals which revoked the verdict and sentences of five Cubans wrongly imprisoned in the United States and annulled the trial that took place in South Florida.

According to experts, the 30-day extension application is an attempt by the US government to lengthen the process, and corresponds to an order by the US Attorney General who should decide whether to finally appeal the decision of the Eleventh Circuit Court.

As of Tuesday, August 23, two weeks had passed since the Atlanta court unanimously made its ruling without a reaction from the district attorney’s office. It has now reacted, but only in the form of this petition.

The President of the Cuban National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcón, had stated to AFP press agency that “if you consider you are in the right you would immediately launch an appeal. They don't know what to do because they have a lost case from a legal point of view”, said the Cuban legislator.

Faced with these new events, it is essential that the demand for the immediate release of the Five be intensified.