Spy Case Cubans Win Retrial Outside Miami

Five Cubans convicted of espionage in the US have won a retrial on the grounds that their original trial was prejudiced because it took place in the heavily anti-Castro atmosphere of Miami.

The decision was hailed as historic by lawyers for the men whose case has become a cause celebre in Cuba.

The five men, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, René González, and Fernando González, were jailed in 2001 with sentences ranging from 15 years to life, after a seven-month trial in Miami, home to the largest number of Cuban exiles in the US. It was alleged that they had been acting as agents of a foreign government without having registered as such.

The five, who were first detained in 1998, claimed that they had merely been monitoring and infiltrating the anti-Castro groups in southern Florida to prevent attacks on Cuba. A number of exile groups have been involved over the years in assassination attempts against the Cuban leader and efforts to sabotage the island's economy via a bombing campaign aimed at Havana hotels.

Lawyers for the men, known as both the Miami Five and the Cuban Five, argued before the 11th circuit court of appeals that it had not been possible for a fair trial in the overtly hostile climate of Miami. They argued that jurors would have been aware of the potential angry reaction had they acquitted the men. The court overturned the convictions and ordered a new trial. It is not yet known when or where this will take place and applications for bail will now be made on the men's behalf.

"The perception that these [exile] groups could harm jurors that rendered a verdict unfavourable to their views was palpable," the three circuit judges wrote in a 93-page ruling. The judgment was also heavily critical of the prosecution in the case. In a closing speech, the jury had been told that the men had been sent to "destroy the United States" and that if jurors were to acquit them they would be abandoning their community.

One of the defence team, Leonard Weinglass, a veteran civil rights lawyer, said the decision was historic.

"It is one of the most extensive opinions on venue and the issue of fair trial ever made," he said in a telephone press conference. "It is the first time that an appeals court has overturned a federal trial based on venue in the history of the United States. This case will be taught in law schools for years to come."

Gloria La Riva, the coordinator of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, said: "This is a huge victory. We are ecstatic about this decision. It confirms that the five Cubans are completely innocent, we know they always were."

She said the judges' decision was "a resounding defeat of the US-backed Miami terrorist network that persecuted the five".

US federal prosecutors are considering whether to appeal against the decision. The office that had handled the prosecution in Miami said the men had received a fair trial. The five remain in custody across the US and are likely to stay behind bars until the retrial starts, although bail applications are now being made.

In Cuba, Ricardo Alarcon, the parliamentary Speaker, praised the decision and called for the granting of bail. "What the US government should do is grant them freedom immediately," he said.

The former US attorney Guy Lewis, whose office tried the case, told the Associated Press: "The defendants received a fair trial. The fact that there is publicity about the case should not, in and of itself, mandate a reversal."