Six Sentenced for Supplying Elian Boat
Six Cuban men were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of between two and four years for supplying the boat that took Elian Gonzalez to sea in late 1999, relatives and human rights activists said.
The six men have been in jail since December 1999. One of them, Jorge Luis Chau Muniz, was allowed to walk free after the trial because he had already served his sentence of just under two years, the relatives said.
The six were convicted of complicity in “illegal departure” and lesser related charges at the one-day trial in the provincial city of Matanzas, east of Havana.
They were variously accused of constructing, transporting, repairing and hiding the boat that set off illegally with 13 Cubans in November 1999, seeking to reach the U.S.
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