DATE= 9/30/97
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-220598
TITLE=RUSSIA / SPY (L-ONLY)
BYLINE=MICHELE KELEMEN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A RUSSIAN MAN ACCUSED OF SPYING FOR BRITAIN HAS SUFFERED
ANOTHER LEGAL SETBACK. V-O-A'S MICHELE KELEMEN IN MOSCOW REPORTS
THE RUSSIAN SUPREME COURT RULED THE MAN IS MENTALLY ILL AND
SHOULD UNDERGO MEDICAL TREATMENT BEFORE STANDING TRIAL.
TEXT: THE LAWYER FOR PLATON OBUKHOV WAS HOPING THE SUPREME
COURT WOULD THROW OUT THE CASE AND SEND THE FORMER JUNIOR
DIPLOMAT TO A HOSPITAL. HE ARGUED MR. OBUKHOV IS UNFIT TO STAND
TRIAL.
BUT THE SUPREME COURT WENT ALONG WITH AN EARLIER MOSCOW CITY
COURT RULING, SAYING MR. OBUKHOV IS ILL AND NEEDS TREATMENT, BUT
HE SHOULD, EVENTUALLY, HAVE HIS DAY IN COURT.
THE MOSCOW CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HAS BEEN FOLLOWING THE CASE.
ITS DIRECTOR, ALEXEI SMIRNOV, SAYS THE ACCUSED SPY IS IN AN
IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION.
/// SMIRNOV ACT - RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
IT IS A FIGHT BETWEEN TWO INTELLIGENCE SERVICES, HE SAYS. PLUS
THERE ARE SOME POLITICAL INTRIGUES. IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THIS,
MR. SMIRNOV ADDS, THERE IS A SICK MAN.
THE QUESTION IS -- WAS PLATON OBUKHOV SANE AT THE TIME OF THE
ALLEGED CRIME? THE FEDERAL SECURITY SERVICE SAYS HE WAS AND
THEREFORE HE SHOULD STAND TRIAL. HIS FAMILY SAYS HE HAS BEEN ILL
SINCE CHILDHOOD.
IT IS ALSO NOT CLEAR HOW MUCH SECRET INFORMATION HE HAD ACCESS
TO. HIS FATHER, A FORMER SOVIET DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER, SAID
PLATON OBUKHOV HAD NO ACCESS AT ALL. THE 28-YEAR-OLD WORKED AS
A SECOND SECRETARY IN THE FOREIGN MINISTRY'S NORTH AMERICAN
DEPARTMENT BEFORE HE WAS ARRESTED LAST YEAR.
HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST ALEXEI SMIRNOV CHARGES THE F-S-B IS ACTING
MUCH LIKE ITS PREDECESSOR, THE K-G-B -- PUSHING AHEAD WITH WHAT
HE CALLS A SHOW TRIAL. HE SAYS IT MAY NEVER BE KNOWN WHETHER
PLATON OBUKHOV PASSED SECRETS TO BRITAIN. HE SAYS THE ONLY THING
THE CASE MAY DETERMINE IS WHETHER MR. OBUKHOV HAS EVER BEEN SANE
(SIGNED)
NEB/MLK/JWH/RRM
30-Sep-97 10:51 AM EDT (1451 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
