Cuba has yet to open a legal case against a United States government contractor from Maryland nearly six months after he was arrested on suspicion of being a spy, the head of the island’s high court said Wednesday.

The contractor, Alan P. Gross, was detained Dec. 3 at José Martí International Airport in Havana and has been held without charge at the capital’s high-security Villa Marista prison ever since.

Formal charges cannot be filed in Cuba without a judicial accusation and the opening of a court case. It is rare for suspects to be held for extended periods in Cuba without charges or even a case being opened.

But Rubén Remigio, the president of the Supreme Court, said Wednesday that “there still is not a case related to this matter” and that he did not know whether prosecutors were working on one.

President Raúl Castro has accused Mr. Gross of distributing banned satellite communications equipment. The United States has said Mr. Gross is not a spy and should be released.

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