8-18-05,11:25am

Havana, August 11 (AIN) Prestigious US lawyer Leonard Weinglass is calling for the immediate release of the Cuban Five, after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals of Atlanta overturned the harsh sentences imposed on them by a biased district court in Miami.

'There are no legal arguments to retain them,' said Weinglass, who is one of the defense attorneys. 'The next step should be to release them from the high-security prisons where they have been held in violation of US law,' he added.

Weinglass noted that after several attempts this was the first time a US court was willing to consider that the court proceedings in the case against Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labanino, Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez y Fernando Gonzalez were flawed.

Weinglass, told the Round Table program on Cuban television Wednesday that the Atlanta appeals court made the right decision. He pointed out that Washington should apologize to the Cuban people and the Cuban Five's relatives.

He recalled that the five men have suffered seven years under harsh prison conditions and that in a flagrant violation of their international rights, Gerardo and Rene's wives were not allowed to visit thier husbands.

The US government now has 21-days to appeal the ruling. If the prosecution appeals the process could take months. Otherwise, we will start working on the new case, emphasized Weinglass.

He further said that although this is a moment of celebration for many, the battle for the liberation of the Cuban Five still has a long way to go. Weinglass added there is much work to do so that these men who fought terrorism are declared innocent and set free.