Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 12: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the efforts he has recently made ten years after the unjust arrest of persons (details supplied) to raise and challenge their unjust detention by the United States. [34095/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The case to which the Deputy refers relates to five Cuban men, known as the Miami Five, who were convicted in the US in 2001 on charges ranging from espionage to first degree murder. On 4 June 2008, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, issued its judgement on appeals lodged on behalf of the five.

The Circuit Court concluded that the appellants' arguments, which centred on the suppression of evidence, sovereign immunity, discovery, jury selection, and the trial itself, were meritless and that there was sufficient evidence to support each conviction. The sentences of two of the defendants were affirmed, while the remaining three men have been sent for re-sentencing.

It is my understanding that the defendants' legal counsel is considering other avenues for appeal, including recourse to the US Supreme Court. As I have previously stated, the Government has no standing in this matter, which is a bilateral consular question between the US and the Cuban authorities and, consequently, I have not raised this matter.