Cuban court affirms exile's death sentence

Real, 28, is a member of the anti-Castro group Democratic National Unity Party (PUND). He was sentenced April 24 to death by firing squad.

The Las Villas province court, in Santa Clara, also ratified the 30-year prison sentences for illegal entry into Cuba imposed April 24 on Real's six companions, also PUND members.

They have been identified as Miguel Diaz Bouza, 43; Jesus Rojas, 51; Armando Sosa, 52; Jose Falcon, 28; Lazaro Gonzalez, 35, and Pedro Guisado, 35.

Real's court-appointed defender is expected to appeal the sentence to Cuba's Supreme Court. The appeal will then go to the Council of State, where President Fidel Castro will make the final decision.

Real's parents, Humberto Real Ramos and Graciela Suarez, who live in the city of Matanzas, have asked Castro to commute the death sentence and let their son serve 30 years in prison instead.

In a letter to Castro, Suarez wrote: ``I am asking you, begging you, imploring you not to approve the death sentence for my son. . . . Do not judge him as an enemy but only as a human being.''