Cuba reviews appeal by US man on death row
Cuba's Supreme Court has begun reviewing the appeal of a Cuban-American who is the last person remaining on death row in the island nation, state-run media said.
Cubadebate website on Tuesday said Humberto Eladio Real, who was convicted of killing a man in a 1994 raid, is seeking to have the death sentence against him commuted.
On Oct 15, 1994, real and six other members of a Florida-based exile group came ashore in northern Cuba, armed with assault rifles and other weapons. A man was killed, and the group was captured shortly thereafter.
Real received the death penalty, and the others got lengthy prison sentences.
Havana officials have said the group intended to carry out acts of sabotage and attacks on military units to destabilise the government of then-President Fidel Castro.
Cuba's constitution allows the death penalty, but for years the country has effectively had a moratorium on carrying out death sentences.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court commuted the death sentences against two El Salvador men convicted for their roles in a deadly bombing campaign on tourist sites in the 1990s. Ernesto Cruz Leon and Otto Rodriguez were given 30-year prison sentences instead, leaving real as the sole convict on death row in Cuba.
Cubadebate did not say when a decision in Real's appeal was expected.
Post new comment