U.S. contractor sentenced to 15 years in Cuba trial

[Chris_]

^{Ministry of Internal Affairs, Havana}

U.S. aid contractor Alan Gross has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for crimes against the Cuban state, state-run television reported on Saturday, in the latest setback to relations between two Cold War enemies.

A panel of judges reached the decision after a two-day trial last week in which prosecutors said Gross was involved in what the government described as a U.S.-funded "subversive project" to "topple the Revolution."

The case was the latest flare-up in U.S.-Cuba relations that have been sour since a 1959 revolution put Fidel Castro in power.

Gross, 61, was convicted of "acts against the independence and territorial integrity of the state" for working to set up clandestine Internet networks for Cuba dissidents using "sophisticated" communications technology.

Reuters

[cavegal]

Statement from White House...

THE WHITEBOARD
‘ANOTHER INJUSTICE’: The White House issued a statement Saturday decrying a Cuban court’s sentencing of American Alan Gross to 15 years in prison for allegedly conspiring against the island nation’s communist government.

The short statement, issued by the National Security Council spokesman, reads in full: “Today’s sentencing adds another injustice to Alan Gross’s ordeal. He has already spent too many days in detention and should not spend one more. We urge the immediate release of Mr. Gross so that he can return home to his wife and family.”

Gross was arrested in 2009 and accused of setting up illegal Internet connections. At the time of his arrest, he was in Cuba on contract for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

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