Yahoo! January 16, 2001
Arrested Czechs To Be Tried in Cuba
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA, 16 (AP) - Two Czech citizens - including a former finance minister -
will be tried for allegedly acting as agents for anti-communist Cuban-American
exiles, the government said Tuesday.
The Czechs "will be placed at the disposition of the courts, which will
decide the appropriate measures to be taken,'' said a statement in the Communist
Party daily Granma. It was Cuba's first public statement on the pair.
The two Czechs are former Finance Minister Ivan Pilip, now a member of
parliament, and Jan Bubenik, a member of a Czech pro-democracy foundation. Cuban
immigration officials detained them Friday in Ciego de Avila, 185 miles
southeast of Havana.
The men were arrested after meeting with two Cuban government opponents. The
dissidents were questioned and released, but the Czechs were transferred to
Havana, where they remain in jail.
Granma said the two are accused of violating immigration laws because their
activities were not consistent with their tourist visas. They were "following
instructions from people in the Cuban-American mafia in the United States, and
came dedicated to maintaining subversive contacts with members of the
counterrevolutionary groups in this country,'' it said.
The pair arrived on Jan. 8 from Cancun, Mexico, after previously traveling
to New York, New Jersey and Miami, the newspaper said.
"The visit had nothing to do with tourism and their real purpose was to
contact counterrevolutionary elements, give them instructions and provide them
with resources,'' Granma said.
On Monday, the Czech Foreign Ministry summoned the top Cuban diplomat in
Prague to protest the men's detention. It demanded an explanation and the pair's
immediate release.
Granma responded to that demand Tuesday.
"The Foreign Ministry of the Czech Republic, with its haughtiness,
arrogance and stridence, has protested the arrests of these men employed by the
empire,'' or the United States, Granma said. "But their hysterical cries
have no value, just as the Czech government gave no importance to its shameful
role as an instrument of the United States in the infamous accusations against
Cuba in the (U.N.) Human Rights Commission in Geneva.''
Cuba's communist government was infuriated last April when the Czech
Republic and Poland introduced a U.N. human rights resolution to censure the
Caribbean nation.
The U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva subsequently censured Cuba for
the second consecutive year, voting 21 to 18 to criticize it for "the
continued violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms.'' Fourteen members
abstained.
Damage Award Sought in Cuban Government Rape Case; Former Wife of
Indicted Cuban Spy Sued Cuba For Damages, Announces Leeds, Colby & Paris
Monday January 15, 12:21 pm Eastern Time. Press Release.
SOURCE: Leeds, Colby & Paris
MIAMI, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The case of Ana Margarita Martinez against
the Republic of Cuba has been set for trial in Miami-Dade Circuit Court to
determine damages to Martinez, who won an unprecedented rape case by default on
June 22, 2000, announced Fernando Zulueta and Scott Leeds, attorneys for
Martinez. The actual date for the non-jury trial will be determined on January
16, 2001.
Martinez, the former wife of indicted Cuban spy Juan Pablo Roque, seeks
damages for sexual battery (rape) and the debilitating emotional and physical
trauma that resulted from Roque's actions on behalf of the Cuban government. She
required medical and psychiatric care and was saddled with debts incurred by
Roque while he was married to her. Martinez won a Default Judgment last June,
which was ordered against the Defendant, The Republic of Cuba, for failure to
serve any paper on the case required by law.
The Miami U.S. Attorney's office indicted Roque in connection with the
murder of three U.S. Citizens and one U.S. Permanent Resident aboard two
Brothers to the Rescue airplanes that were shot down by the Cuban Air Force on
February 24, 1996. In U.S. v Gerardo Hernandez, et.al. Case No.
98-721-CR-Lenard(s)(s), which is currently being tried in Federal Court,
prosecutors claim that Roque's mission had been to infiltrate the Brothers on
behalf of the Cuban Directorate of Intelligence (The "DI'') as part of a
network of Miami-based agents known as "La Red Avispa'' ("The Wasp
Network''). Evidence from nearly 1,000 encrypted computer disks confiscated by
the FBI was presented in the Federal trial on December 19, 2000, detailing
highly secretive Cuban directives. Roque is currently in Cuba and is considered
a fugitive by the U.S. government.
"The ongoing Wasp Network trial only serves to reinforce our case that
the government of Cuba directed its spies to infiltrate the Cuban exile
community by befriending, dating, and even marrying members of the community in
an effort to discredit them,'' says Scott Leeds, attorney for Ana Margarita
Martinez.
Martinez v. The Republic of Cuba (Case number 99-18208 CA-20) will be set on
a four-week trial calendar commencing on January 22, 2001, in the Miami-Dade
Circuit Courtroom of Judge Alan L. Postman.
For more information, contact Mr. Leeds or Mr. Zulueta at Leeds, Colby &
Paris, 2950 S.W. 27th Avenue, Suite 300, Miami, Florida, 33133 or call
(305)567-1200. Mr. Leeds can be reached by cell phone at (305) 962-1236 and Mr.
Zulueta can be reached by cell phone at (305) 796-5709, or visit their web site
at www.LeedsandColby.com.
Czech Ministry Protests Detention
PRAGUE, Czech Republic. 15 (AP) - The Czech Foreign Ministry said Monday it
has summoned the top Cuban diplomat in Prague to protest the detention of two
Czech citizens on the communist island.
Cuban police detained former Finance Minister Ivan Pilip, now a member of
Parliament, last Friday along with Jan Bubenik, member of a Czech pro-democracy
foundation, in Ciego de Avila, 190 miles southeast of Havana. They were
transferred to Havana where they remain in jail, said ministry spokesman Ales
Pospisil.
There was no immediate comment on Monday from the Cuban government, which
generally takes a day or two to respond publicly to such incidents. Calls placed
Monday morning seeking comment from the Czech Embassy in Havana were not
immediately returned.
According to unofficial information from Cuban police, the two were detained
for having met with unidentified members of the opposition.
Human rights activists on the island said that Cuban security agents
evidently suspected that the Cuban dissidents had received money and printed
materials from their Czech visitors.
"There was absolutely nothing offered'' by the Czechs to the
dissidents, said Antonio Femenias of the nonofficial Cuban news agency Patria,
who met with the pair in Ciego de Avila.
"They talked about the situation in the country, about the socialist
camp, and about perspectives,'' Femenias said.
Pospisil said that the ministry presented Czech embassy official David
Paulovich with a diplomatic note demanding an explanation and the immediate
release of the two. He said Cuba has not yet responded officially.
Cuba's communist government was infuriated last April when the Czech
Republic and Poland introduced a resolution in the United Nations (news - web
sites) to censure the Caribbean nation on human rights issues.
The U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva subsequently censured Cuba for
human rights violations.
Cuba lashed out at Poland and the Czech Republic again in May after the
visit by a Polish senator who heads a human rights commission in his country.
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