January 15, 1999

French lawyer pursuing Castro says has more proof

PARIS, Jan 14 (Reuters) - A French lawyer aiming to sue Cuban President Fidel Castro for crimes against humanity and other offences said on Thursday he had more evidence to bolster a case of drug-trafficking against him.

Lawyer Serge Lewisch, who took his cue from extradition suits in Britain against former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, said he would add new written evidence to the original suit he filed on January 6.

French justice has not yet decided whether the suit will be taken up. A judge must screen the case before any official judicial inquiry can be opened.

Lewisch based his case on the execution by firing squad of Cuban official Antonio de la Guardia in a drug-trafficking scandal that shook Cuba's Communist government in 1989.

Acting on behalf of the executed man's widow Ileana, Lewisch accused Castro of murder, illegal detention, torture and international drug smuggling.

Lewisch also charged that the Cuban leader was responsible for crimes against humanity and systematic torture over the allegedly arbitrary detention of Frenchman Pierre Golendorf and Cuban Lazaro Jordana, who were both held for four years in Cuba in the 1970s and 1980s.

Lewisch was acting on behalf of Golendorf, 77, a journalist jailed from 1971-75 for criticising the Havana government in a draft book, and Jordana, 41, who was held from 1982-86 allegedly on political charges.

The Cuban government has poured scorn on Lewisch's suit.

``There are always people...interested in achieving some sort of notoriety with campaigns of this sort, which are so ridiculous that they don't merit the least commentary from us,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Alejandro Gonzalez told Reuters.

A Spanish court last November rejected a bid by Cuban exiles for the prosecution of Castro, his brother Raul and other Cuban officials on charges of genocide, terrorism and torture.

13:29 01-14-99

Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited