Putin May Pardon U.S. Man Held as Spy

Dec. 8, 2000 -- A senior Kremlin official today said U.S. businessman Edmond Pope, convicted as a spy but expected to be pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin, would probably have to stay in jail until Dec. 14.

The announcement came hours after a presidential commission asked Putin to pardon Pope and save him from 20 years in a hard labor camp.

But the Interfax news agency quoted Sergei Ivanov, the secretary of the president’s influentialSecurity Council, as saying that under Russian law, Pope could not be pardoned until the court’s sentence of 20 years in jail had come into effect.

“The verdict on E. Pope was announced on Dec. 6 and thesentence comes into effect a week after the verdict is given. That means that the president can pardon Pope on Dec. 14,” Ivanov said.

He said Pope, who denied charges of trying to obtainsecrets on a Russian torpedo, could be home for Christmas.

Earlier today, Anatoly Pristavkin, the head of the presidential commission, told reporters that members of the commission had recommended a pardon for Pope. The American was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer that was in remission, but his family fears may have returned.

The United States expressed anger at the court’s sentence, pronounced on Wednesday, but Putin hinted ahead of the verdict that he might take Pope’s health into account if asked to decide his fate.

In a 10-minute phone call with Putin today, President Bill Clinton once again urged him to free Pope on humanitarian grounds.

Pope’s family has decided not to appeal Wednesday’s conviction because a presidential pardon cannot be made if the appeals process is ongoing.

Pope has been convicted of stealing secrets about a Russian high-speed torpedo. He has denied stealing secret designs for a torpedo, and said he only sought to commercialize technology already widely available.

Pope’s conviction is the first time a U.S. citizen has been convicted of espionage in Russia since pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960.

Powers was freed and sent home two years later in exchange for a Soviet spy.

Wife Confident

Earlier today, Pope’s wife Cheri Pope said the past eight months had been almost too much for her husband to bear. “He really is sick,” she said. “He is very sick and he’s emotionally very fragile and we need to have those addressed, and then he’s going to lose his father and so it’s going to be another added stress in is life.”

Pope’s father is terminally ill.

Mrs. Pope said she hadn’t been able to see her husband since his conviction on Wednesday. “I went over to the court in Moscow, and asked the judge if I could see him, and we waited about an hour, and she came back and said it’s impossible, you’ve seen him too many times,” said Mrs. Pope. “And I’ve only seen him four times in the last eight months.”

Jennifer Bennett, a spokeswoman for U.S. Congressman JohnPeterson, who has been following the case, said before thecommission hearing that Pope’s wife Cheri was confident.

“She is very optimistic about the meeting of thepresidential pardon commission. This is very welcome news forher,” Bennett told Reuters Television.

Mrs. Pope was in court on Wednesday, holding her husband’shand through the bars of the defendant’s cage as the verdict washanded down by the judge.

But in an interview with ABCNEWS’ Good Morning America on Thursday, Mrs. Pope said she barely had contact with her husband during his trial the previous day. “I was trying to embrace him through the bars of the cell,” she said. “And they [Russian security personnel] literally came in and pulled him away from me to get him out of the cell.”

An Official Request

On Thursday, Pope sent a letter to Putin citing his poorhealth and the condition of his terminally ill father ascompelling factors for a presidential pardon.

“I request this release to be as soon as possible as myfather is terminally ill and I wish to visit him one last time,”Pope said in his letter, read to Reuters by Bennett.

Interfax news agency, quoting a Kremlin official responsiblefor pardons, Robert Tsivilev, said the letter began simply: “Iask you to pardon me and release me from prison.”

Pristavkin told Russian television channels on Thursday thehumanitarian aspect of the case was likely to tip the scales inPope’s favor.

“I hope we will take a humane decision to allow him to gohome where his father is ill,” he said on Thursday.

The commission’s view is important, but it will ultimatelybe Putin’s decision on whether to allow the 54-year-oldbusinessman to walk free, Pristavkin said.

U.S.-Russian Ties Strained

Pope’s imprisonment and trial have cast a shadow overRussia’s relations with Washington. The United States has urgedMoscow to drop charges against Pope and allow him to seekqualified medical attention.

Clinton personally raised the issue ofPope’s health with Putin, but the Russian president refused tointervene, saying it was a matter for the courts.

On Thursday, the United States launched another appeal tothe Russian president to pardon the businessman immediately.

“We believe that Pope’s conviction was unjustifiable andwrong,” White House National Security Adviser Sandy Berger toldreporters in Washington.

“We have said to the Russians at every level, from thepresident on down ... that we believe he should be released onhumanitarian grounds, if nothing else,” he said.

RTR state television, the main conduit for Russia’s FSBdomestic security service to press its views during the trial,has suggested Pope might be exchanged for a Russian spy.

Though RTR mentioned the name of Aldrich Ames, a U.S.intelligence officer serving a life sentence in the UnitedStates for spying for Russia, Berger dismissed any suchsuggestions. “That’s not even under discussion,” he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.