Cuba tries armed men tied to US anti-Castro group

[Judi Lynn]

Cuba tries armed men tied to US anti-Castro group
By WILL WEISSERT
The Associated Press
Friday, August 6, 2010; 10:23 PM

HAVANA -- Three armed men who were intercepted by Cuban border guards in 2001 and have been awaiting trial since then on charges they planned acts of sabotage went to court behind closed-doors Friday, according to a veteran human rights activist.

Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said that during a roughly eight-hour hearing in the central city of Santa Clara prosecutors presented their case against the three Cuban-born exiles: Ihosvani Suris de la Torre, Santiago Padron Quintero and Maximo Pradera Valdes, also known as Maximo Robaina.

Authorities are seeking 30-year prison sentences for Padron and Pradera, and life behind bars for Suris. A judge will now rule on their guilt and determine an appropriate sentence for each - though it was not clear when that decision would come.

"The trial is ready for sentencing," Sanchez said by phone Friday night. He said the three men were transferred from a maximum-security prison in Havana to Santa Clara for their day in court.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/06/AR2010080606687.html