Cuba – Supreme Court Hears from Jailed U.S. Contractor, Says He Had No Ill Intentions

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    Havana – The U.S. aid contractor sentenced to 15 years in a Cuban prison after he was caught distributing communications gear on the Communist island testified here Friday at an appeal hearing before Cuba’s supreme court, which is expected to issue its ruling in the coming days, official media said.

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    “Alan Phillip Gross … outlined the criteria he considered pertinent and expressed gratitude for the chance to personally explain them before the judges of the People’s Supreme Tribunal,” according to a note on the government Web site Cubadebate.

    Gross was represented at the hearing by Cuban public defender Nuris Piñeiro, while diplomats from the U.S. Interests Section in Havana observed the closed-door proceedings.

    Now 61, Gross was arrested Dec. 3, 2009, in possession of satellite communications equipment he said he was planning to distribute among Cuba’s Jewish community. Havana says he was illegally aiding dissidents and inciting subversion on the island.


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