10-19-08, 1:27 pm

'CASE closed — forget about that!' affirmed Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, president of the National Assembly of People’s Power, referring to the unjust ruling of a panel of judges in Atlanta to uphold a decision to not review the appeals of Gerardo Hernández and René González.

Speaking on the 'Roundtable' TV and radio program, Alarcón said the ruling was objectively divisive in nature, in order to create confusion, but that the attitude of the Five continues and will continue to be one of unity.

He recalled details of the rigged legal proceedings, which included substantial problems, false accusations, illegalities, prevaricating by judges in the different courts and administrative arbitrariness. 'The U.S. government has not been able to provide any evidence to convict Gerardo; why, then, should the Supreme Court not take the case under review?'

In the United States, the top court of justice is not obliged to review all the cases submitted for its consideration. According to statistics, it only reviews from 1 to 1.5 percent of cases submitted.

'We have to prevent this case from being closed,' Alarcón emphasized. 'We are going to reopen it with arguments, with concerts, with exhibitions, mobilizations, filings before the court, with our hands, teeth and nails, but we are definitely going to open it, we will open it.'

He announced that a group of lawyers is preparing to present the case in the U.S. Supreme Court, accompanied by mobilizations, denunciations and international solidarity, which continues to grow.

That was touched on by Rosa Aurora, Fernando’s wife, and attorney Nuris Piñeiro who, in India witnessed many actions of support for the cause of freeing the Cuban Five, and for visas to be granted to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez so that they can visit their husbands René and Gerardo. Piñeiro said that those actions show how the Five are international symbols of dignity and respect for peace.

Alarcón also noted that an environment is slowly being created in the United States that is forcing judges to reconsider and the government to act. On that point, he said, 'I think there is total consensus in that country: change, and that change is going to be produced by the masses, the people. Likewise, there has to be a change in the case of the Five, and we’re going to achieve it.'

Translated by Granma International