``We've accomplished our mission, which was to save him from the firing squad,'' said Miami lawyer Ellis Rubin after the trial of Walter Van der Veer, 52, a Coral Gables handyman arrested in Havana in mid-1996.
Cuba did not allow Rubin to go to Havana to attend the trial, but did allow another Miami lawyer, Dominick Salfi, to observe, along with a U.S. consular service official. Journalists were not allowed in the courtroom.
The panel of five judges gave no hint of when it planned to issue its ruling, and Cuban legal experts emphasized that it can impose a more lenient or harsher sentence than the one requested -- even death.
The six-foot Van Der Veer looked thin, and told the court he weighs only 100 pounds, Salfi said. But he appeared to be able to speak and follow the trial and was not restrained during the hearing.
Security was not unusually tight at the dingy courthouse in central Havana, said journalists who were kept outside, and few Cuban passersby seemed to be aware of the trial or of Van der Veer's story.
Salfi said prosecutors presented 10 of their 13 scheduled witnesses to give their version of Van der Veer's quixotic trip to Cuba, bringing toys and medicines as well as an army camouflage uniform and a combat knife.
Van der Veer's court-appointed Cuban defense lawyer did not present any witnesses but made ``a strong, even spirited'' closing argument on behalf of her client, Salfi said.
Van der Veer is charged with plotting to topple President Fidel Castro by throwing anti-government leaflets out of speeding cars, soliciting guns and materials for gasoline bombs, and planning to attack tourism targets.
But a lengthy prosecutors' document made available to the media before the trial indicated that Van der Veer had not been involved in any violent acts.
A Miami-based group of Cuban exiles that advocates armed struggle against the Castro regime, Comandos L, first accepted and then disavowed reports from Van der Veer's friends that he belonged to the group.
Salfi said his lack of experience with Cuba's legal system made it impossible for him to evaluate the trial, but noted that some of the written documents used in the trial were not made available to the defense attorney.
Neither prosecutors nor the defense lawyer made any oral objections during the trial, he added, and Van der Veer made no comment either to the court or to his attorney.
Salfi was not allowed to talk to Van der Veer during the trial, but said he has received indications they may be allowed to meet today. Van der Veer is being held at the State Security police's main headquarters.
Prosecutors also presented testimony from psychiatrists who argued that Van der Veer, regarded as an eccentric with deep religious convictions, is completely sane and capable of standing trial, Salfi said.
The defense lawyer did not object. But Rubin, who has defended several Comandos L members, said Van der Veer was far too emotionally unstable to do any jail time at all for what, at worse, were plans and not actions.
``If he were on trial in the United States, my defense would be that he's incompetent to stand trial,'' Rubin said.
Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald