Cuba sentenced a US contractor to 15 years in prison

<p>Cuba sentenced a US contractor to 15 years in prison for covertly distributing laptops and cellular phones on the island -- a verdict certain to sour the communist-ruled nation's long-strained ties with the United States.<br />Washington swiftly decried the jailing of American Alan Gross as "another injustice" and called for his immediate release.<br />Cuba's Popular Provincial Tribunal found Gross responsible for "acts against the independence or territorial integrity" of the country, according to a statement read on state-run television.<br />Gross, 61, was working under contract for the US State Department when he was arrested in late 2009 for distributing the electronic devices to members of the communist-run island's small Jewish community.<br />"Today's sentencing adds another injustice to Alan Gross's ordeal," said National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor in Washington.<br />"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," Vietor said.<br />In their ruling, the Tribunal considered information showing "direct participation of the US contractor in a subversive project by the United States government to try to destroy the revolution."<br />The Cuban statement also said that during the trial, the defendant "acknowledged that he had been used and manipulated" by the US Agency for International Development, which financed Gross's company, the statement read.<br />Gross, who can appeal the sentence, was originally accused of targeting universities, religious centers and ethnic groups to create "underground communications networks designed to foment provocations against the revolution."<br />His family was devastated, Gross's attorney said.<br />"At this difficult time for Alan and his family, we again call on the Cuban government to release him immediately on humanitarian grounds," said lawyer Peter Kahn.<br />The two-day, closed-door trial in Havana concluded March 5.<br />The case has chilled a brief warming in US-Cuban relations that followed President Barack Obama's taking office.</p>

Cuba sentenced a US contractor to 15 years in prison

Cuba sentenced a US contractor to 15 years in prison for covertly distributing laptops and cellular phones on the island -- a verdict certai...

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