Members of the Bundestag sent this week a letter to the members of the Congress of the United States of America to draw their attention to the Amicus Curiae with which hundreds of individuals and parliamentarians are calling for the retrial of the Cuban Five.

The members of the German Parliament(5 of the SDP and 3 of the Left) express in their letter that they “have been following this case for some time with great concern, in particular due to the grave flaws in the trial noted by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (Commission on Human Rights),“ and adding that “massive doubts about the legality of the trial still exist today”,  because the sentences that “these individuals have now served contradict the principle of proportionality and also constitutes an infringement of Article 9 (3) and (4) and Article 14 (3c) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the US has signed and ratified.

“We relieve that an urgent review of the case by the United States Supreme Court is required and support the application filed by the detainees’ defense lawyers on January 30, 2009 at the Supreme Court. As “friends of the court (amicus curiae), we have sent an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court, in which we express our wish and our support for a trial review.”

“We would be grateful if you, as Members of Congress, could support this amicus curiae and work within your parties and parliamentary bodies to bring about a retrial.”

The Members of the Bundestag that signed the letter were  Klaus Brandner, Monika Griefahn, Dr. Gregor Gysi, Lothar Mark, Wolfgang Neskovic, Prof. Dr. Norman Paech, Florian Pronold y Christoph Strasser.