Cuba says Alan Gross was being charged with violating Cuba’s "independence and territorial integrity"

Cuba has requested a 20-year prison term for US contractor Alan Gross who was arrested in 2009 on spying charges, a government statement said, as Washington slammed the move as an "injustice."
  
In a statement released through the Communist Party newspaper Granma Friday, Cuba said Gross was being charged with violating Cuba's "independence and territorial integrity," and said a trial date will be fixed "shortly" in a case that has created a new diplomatic tension between Washington and Havana.
  
The charges against Gross, 61, are in the category of "crimes against state security". "The US government has been informed of this and duly notified through the diplomatic channels that its consular representatives, Mr Gross's relatives and his family lawyers will be allowed to attend the trial," the statement said.
  
Washington swiftly criticized the action. President Barack Obama's spokesman Robert Gibbs said Gross "has been unjustly detained and deprived of his liberty and freedom for the last 14 months." But instead of releasing him, the White House said the decision Friday "compounds the injustice suffered by a man helping to increase the free flow of information, to, from, and among the Cuban people."

Washington officials said that Gross, an international development worker, visited Cuba to help members of the Jewish community in Havana link up with other Jewish communities throughout the world.