Cuba wants nine years in prison for leading dissident Ferrer

FILE PHOTO: Jose Daniel Ferrer, who leads the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), the country's largest dissident group, holds up a t-shirt with the writing "God, Fatherland, Freedom" in Palmarito de Cauto, Cuba, March 25, 2012. REUTERS/Mariana Bazo

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban prosecutors are asking for a nine-year prison sentence for one of the country's top opposition leaders Jose Daniel Ferrer on charges of assault, his wife Nelva Ortega said.

Ortega told Reuters she learned the news when she visited Ferrer on Thursday but that he received the documents in his case on Jan. 13. He has yet to stand trial, and the documents did not include a date for the proceedings, she said.