Record number of Amicus Briefs filed in the Supreme Court for the Cuban 5

The Cuban Five are five men who came to the United States to monitor Cuban American right wing terrorist groups in Miami. They were arrested in 1998 and they are serving four life sentences plus 77 years collectively. The trial took place in Miami the only city in the United States where 5 men accused of being agents of the Cuban government could not receive a fair trial.

After 11 years of a legal roller coaster the case has made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a formidable show of support last week a total of 12 documents from friends of the Court (amicus curiae brief) were lodged at the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the petition presented by the defense team of the Five on January 30 asking the Court to re-examine the case.

This number of amicus constitutes an unprecedented action given that it is the largest number to have been placed before the U.S. Supreme Court for reviewing a penal case.

10 Nobel Prize winners including José Ramos Horta, president of Timor Leste; Adolfo Pérez Esquivel; Rigoberto Menchu; José Saramago; Wole Solyinka; Zhores Alferov; Nadine Gordimer; Gunter Grass; Darió Fo; and Mairead Maguire; the entire Mexican Senate; the Panama National Assembly; Mary Robinson, president of Ireland (1992-97) and the UN Human Rights High Commissioner (1997-2002), signed one of the amicus briefs.

The amicus briefs, as well as a complete list of the friends of the court can be found on SCOTUblog (http://www.scotublog.com)


For more information about the case of the Cuban Five visit http://www.thecuban5.org