Ready for the Verdict / Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado

Last Saturday, the 5th of March, with the deployment of a strong political operation, the trial of US citizen Alan Phillip Gross ended, ready for the verdict. The 10th of October Municipal Court, located at #501 Carmen on the corner of Juan Delgado, in the capital neighborhood of La Víbora, was the scene for this process.

Mr. Gross was accused of the crime “Acts against the independence or the territorial integrity of the state” and the prosecutor asked for a sentence of twenty years imprisonment. The representatives of the foreign press that waited there from the day before to get images and I, an independent national reporter, were present; we were frustrated by waiting for hours and losing the opportunity to photograph him. Apparently he was transported in a white van, from the side door, and left at full speed.

Now we are left to wait for the outcome and the “trial of the trial” that ordinarily we cover fully with regards to the guarantees of the judicial process in general.

March 7 2011