Ottawa, Jul 11 (Prensa Latina) On the initiative of Francine Lalonde, Bloc Quebecois Member of Parliament, she and other 55 MPs signed a letter demanding justice for the Five Cubans unjustly imprisoned in the United States, informed the Canadian Network on Cuba and La Table de Concertation de Solidarite Québec-Cuba.
During the week of June 23-27, 2008 the letter was forwarded to David Emerson, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, a copy to Michael Mukasey, Attorney General of the United States and David Wilkins, US Ambassador to Canada.
The letter indicates that Fernando González Llort, René González Sehwerert, Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo and Ramón Labañino Salazar, known internationally as the “Five” and imprisoned in the United States for more than 9 years, have undergone an unfair trial and conditions of detention which contravene the Constitution of the United States and international law.
The letter also mentions that these five people are held in five separate maximum security prisons and are kept for long periods in isolation cells; two of them have been denied their right to family visits.
It also states that, since the Atlanta Court of Appeal declared that the verdicts against the Cuban Five were invalid, nothing justifies their imprisonment any longer or the arbitrary situation that is extremely painful for the Cuban Five and their families.
In Québec, in addition to many ordinary citizens, well-known personalities such as Claudette Carbonneau, president of the CSN, Elsie Lefebvre, Bloc Québécois Party former MP as well as 93 personalities gave their support to the Five. In Canada, the support of the NDP MPs for the Five is added to that of the Labour Congress of Canada and the Canadian Federation of Students, among others.
In October 2007 Ms. Francine Lalonde met in her office of Pointe-aux-Trembles, with Ms. Elizabeth Palmeiro, wife of Ramón Labañino, one of the Five.
The Canadian Network on Cuba and the Table de concertation de solidarité Québec-Cuba support fully the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party in this joint call for justice and add our voices to those of our MPs.
The statement expresses the commitment to continue their efforts to bring justice for the Five by making their case known to the public of Québec and Canada and also in collaboration with other justice seeking organizations in the United States and elsewhere in the world.
