A week before lawyers appeal the convictions of five Cuban spies, allies take out a full-page New York Times ad seeking support for the imprisoned men.

BY GAIL EPSTEIN NIEVES AND ELAINE de VALLE

Were five Cuban spies unfairly convicted in 2001 during a flawed trial in anti-Castro Miami? Or did justice prevail after the men benefited from a stalwart defense before impartial judge and jury?

Federal appeals judges will hear both sides of that argument Wednesday when lawyers for the five men return to court to challenge their convictions.

The five, admitted Cuban intelligence agents working on orders from Havana, were convicted of spying-related charges for infiltrating U.S. military facilities and anti-Castro groups.

Spymaster Gerardo Hernández also was convicted of murder conspiracy in connection with Cuba's 1996 shooting down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes -- an event that took the lives of four Brothers fliers.

The spies have been turned into national heroes in Cuba. They're also the subject of a vigorous Cuban government-sponsored campaign to sway popular opinion in their favor, both internationally and in the United States, U.S. diplomatic sources said.

Allies of the five placed a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on Wednesday urging Americans to join the call for their release. The ad was placed by the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, a San Francisco-based organization.

Gloria La Riva, the group's coordinator, did not return a reporter's phone call Thursday. But she told El Nuevo Herald last month that the organization has raised $50,000 from donors in various U.S. cities, Europe and Latin America.

MIAMI GROUPS

She said $10,000 had come from a coalition of anti-embargo, pro-normalization Miami groups -- including the Antonio Maceo Brigade, Alianza Martiana, the Association of Cuban Workers and Afro-Cuban Cultural Rescue.

Maggie Khuly -- whose brother, Armando Alejandre Jr., was one of the downed Brothers fliers -- said she fears the campaign is spreading misinformation.

''I'm concerned that people across the country and the globe are getting this one-sided view,'' she said.

But ultimately, she added, "I do believe that the U.S. justice system is not going to be swayed by the propaganda of the Cuban government.''

Next week, lawyers will take their best shot before a panel of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

But they'll have to talk fast.

Each side -- the prosecution and all five defendants combined -- gets 15 minutes to make its case. They also filed voluminous briefs.

A lot of attention will be focused on Hernández's appeal.

ADVANCE WARNINGS

Evidence showed that his Cuban handlers sent him numerous advance warnings that a ''confrontation'' with Brothers' planes was planned and instructed him to keep fellow spies who had infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue off the group's planes on particular days.

Paul McKenna, Hernández's lawyer, argues that the government failed to prove his client knew his bosses were prepared to take such drastic action.

''Hernández knew -- as did the U.S. government, U.S. citizens and the United Nations -- of the strong possibility Cuba would interdict and confront future Brothers to the Rescue flights into Cuban airspace,'' McKenna's appeal brief says.

'What the evidence failed to show was that Hernández knew of, or joined in, a conspiracy under which Cuba's reaction to Brothers' provocations would be to commit a first-degree murder,'' said the brief.