15-year sentence upheld in Cuba

Cuba’s highest court upheld a U.S. government subcontractor’s 15-year sentence for crimes against the state, ending the legal side of a case that has further chilled relations between Washington and Havana.

The Aug. 5 ruling means Alan Gross, a Jewish 62-year-old from Maryland, has no further judicial recourse to appeal. He has been behind bars for more than a year and a half.  Several of his family members in the United States have serious illnesses and the family has had to sell its home. — ap