Court to Revisit Case of Maryland Man Imprisoned in Cuba

The attorney of Alan Gross, a 64-year-old Bethesda resident serving his fifth of a 15-year sentence in Cuba, will appear before a federal appellate court to contend Gross should be allowed to sue the U.S. government.

Gross intends to file a lawsuit over lost wages and legal fees incurred as a result of his imprisonment, according to the Associated Press.

Courts previously threw out his case in a 2013 ruling that federal law prohibits a government suit for injuries received in a foreign country.

Gross was detained in Cuba in late 2009 over his contracted work distributing computers and cellphones on behalf of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and was refused temporary release in April to visit his terminally ill mother, Patch previously reported.

The government agency’s campaign to increase youth usership in ZunZuneo, a Cuban social media platform known for political discussions, only brought more attention to Gross’ detainment, Patch reports.

The U.S. government plan to create a Twitter-like platform in Cuba was dumb and may have endangered Gross’ life and others around the world, Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said at a Congressional hearing of the State, Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee in April.

At that same hearing, Chief of the Agency for International Development Rjiv Shah testified that the ZunZuneo program is in line with their efforts to increase the flow of information in Cuba, denied reports that it was meant to foment dissent, and asserted that the program was not covert, just “discreet.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals has not yet indicated when they will issue a ruling.

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