By MAYA BELL and LUISA YANEZ Miami Bureau

MIAMI - — - The lawsuit filed Wednesday to keep Elian Gonzalez in Miami was assigned to a federal judge who has taken tough stands against two key figures fighting for the Cuban boy's return to the island: Cuban President Fidel Castro and U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.

The suit filed by Elian's Miami relatives was randomly assigned to senior U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King, a highly respected jurist and a Miami native who has dealt with emotional exile issues before.

In a landmark ruling last summer, King ordered the Cuban government to pay $187 million to the families of three exiles whose planes were shot down by Cuban MiGs while searching for rafters. King was berated repeatedly in the Cuban media for his decision.

King ruled against Reno in 1997, ordering the U.S. government to halt efforts to deport as many as 40,000 Nicaraguans. Attorneys who have argued before King say he is a gutsy, fair judge who follows the law despite the consequences.

"Just because he has made rulings in the past that might be perceived as favoring anti-Castro sentiments, you cannot say that he will make a politically based decision in the Elian case," said Miami attorney Kendall Coffey.

Said Broward County attorney Bruce Rogow: ``There is great wisdom in his decision-making."

In their 19-page complaint, lawyers for the Miami relatives of the 6-year-old Cuban boy are seeking two things: to bar the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service from returning Elian to his father in Cuba, and to force INS officials to hear the boy's request for political asylum.

``This lawsuit is being filed to compel the U.S. government, the Justice Department and the INS to treat Elian Gonzalez fairly," said Spencer Eig, one of the lawyers. ``So far, they have not."

The suit was randomly assigned to King, one of 12 judges in the Miami division, said Yvonne Cedeno, the district court clerk's operations supervisor.

It follows a custody case filed in Miami-Dade Circuit court that also was randomly assigned, in that instance to a judge who had previously hired the spokesman for Elian's Miami relatives as a consultant for her election campaign.

The federal lawsuit was welcomed by immigration officials, even though it names their bosses as defendants.

They repeated Reno's contention that any challenge to Elian's repatriation belongs in federal court and should be sought quickly.

``As we said before, we believe the appropriate venue to challenge the decision made by INS is the federal court and we're prepared to litigate there," INS spokesman Russ Bergeron said.

He would not discuss legal strategy, but some legal experts following the convoluted custody battle said the lawsuit may backfire on Elian's Miami relatives by arming the attorney general with a judicial ruling to enforce what she has been saying all along: that Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, has the sole legal authority to speak for his son and, as a result, had the right to withdraw the boy's request for asylum.

``I think Janet Reno has called their bluff,'' said David Abraham, an immigration law expert at the University of Miami. ``The Miami relatives have no more standing in federal court than the man on the street. The INS strategy seems to be give them their day in court because they don't have a case and it will be over and easier to reunite Elian with his father."

Eig scoffed at the experts. ``A lot of legal experts predicted that Elian Gonzalez would be deported to Cuba long ago," he said. ``I'm just glad they're not doctors."

He and several exile leaders emphasized that they plan to continue fighting for Elian's custody in Miami-Dade family court, where the judge has set a March 6 custody hearing, and in Congress, where several members are drafting legislation to make Elian a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

Elian has been living with his father's uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez of Miami, since he was rescued at sea on Thanksgiving Day. The boy's mother, stepfather and nine others drowned after fleeing Cuba on a small boat bound for Florida.

Since then, Lazaro Gonzalez has been fighting for Elian's custody.

Through his attorneys, he argues that Elian has a well-founded fear of persecution -- the legal basis for a political asylum claim -- if he were returned to Cuba. In their lawsuit, lawyers offered a glimpse of the evidence they say supports Elian's well-founded fear of persecution if returned to his homeland.

``His stepfather was recently twice imprisoned in Cuba, beaten, held incommunicado, and deprived of food," a footnote in one motion alleges. ``The Communist Party interrogated his mother and her loyalty was questioned. Consequently, she feared being deprived of earning a living, and being able to provide for her son. These actions by the Cuban government drove Elian's mother and stepfather to flee Cuba with Elian."
 

In another footnote, the lawyers also said they have anecdotal proof that Elian's father is unable to speak freely about his true desires for his son.

``Juan Miguel's neighbors and family in Cardenas, Cuba have reported that Juan Miguel's movements have been restricted and his actions monitored by the Cuban government, that a speaker-phone has been installed in Juan Miguel's home so that all of his telephone calls can be monitored by government observers, and Juan Miguel is being kept isolated from the rest of his family in Cuba."

The allegations could not be independently confirmed Wednesday.