ABA Human Rights Award Winners Detained In Cuba

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 5 (Reuter) - Two Cuban human rights lawyers won an award from the American Bar Association on Tuesday but were not able to attend the ceremony because they were being detained in Havana.

Dr. Rene Gomez Manzano and Dr. Leonel Morejon Almagro were to have received the International Human Rights Award given by ABA's litigation section during the group's annual meeting.

The lawyers represented dissidents in human rights cases and founded independent organisations seeking to promote the rule of law in Cuba, the ABA said.

Pablo Llabre, another Cuban human rights lawyer, accepted the award for his colleagues and told the bar group that the honour will give the lawyers moral support and may help protect them from action by Cuba's Communist government.

``The international recognition may force the government to hold back in its prosecution,'' he said through an interpreter.

He told Reuters that the Cuban government had not yet announced charges against the men. ``Their only crime was to think,'' he said.

He said Gomez Manzano was arrested on July 16 and remains in prison. He is believed to be under investigation for ``counter-revolutionary'' activities by the Cuban government.

Llabre said that Morejon Almagro has been held under house arrest since last week. Dissident sources in Havana said he was not currently in prison but the Cuban government appeared to have delayed or denied issuing him the necessary papers to travel to the United States.

The sources said state security police visited Morejon last month to warn him he could be jailed if he continued his dissident activities and tell him to keep a low profile.

Christopher Wall, chairman of the award nomination process, said the two men had pursued the highest ideals of the legal profession in the face of extraordinary adversity.

``These individuals face persecution for advocating rights we too often take for granted in the United States. We hope the awards will provide international recognition that will help protect the award recipients from government reprisals,'' he said.

Gomez Manzano has worked for years defending cases involving human rights violations and has openly criticised irregularities in court proceedings.

In 1990 he helped organise the Corriente Agromontista, a group of lawyers willing to litigate political cases against the state. The group seeks to reform Cuba's judicial system from within, requiring the Cuban government to obey its own laws.

He has tried to register the organisation as an independent law office but the request has been ignored and the group's meetings disrupted or prevented from taking place.

Gomez Manzano was arrested along with his three colleagues in a four-member group called the ``Internal Dissidence Working Group'' which had achieved some prominence in recent months, holding two news conferences for foreign journalists.

Cuban officials said the four dissidents were being investigated for ``counter-revolutionary'' activities.

Morejon Almagro was instrumental in creating the Concilio Cubano, an umbrella organisation composed of about 140 groups including the Corriente Agromontista. The group's mission was to promote a peaceful transition to a democracy.

The Cuban government refused to recognise Concilio Cubana.

When the group formally requested authorisation from the government to hold a national meeting in February 1996, Morejon Almagro was arrested and sentenced to 15 months in prison for ``disrespect.''

20:36 08-05-97