Jill Dougherty reports on the verdict of Edmond Pope

Jill Dougherty

CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty reports on the verdict of Edmond Pope, a U.S. businessman who was found guilty of spying in Russia and sentenced to a 20-year prison term.

Q: Is the verdict likely to affect U.S.-Russian relations?

DOUGHERTY: We just spoke with U.S. Congressman John Peterson of Pennsylvania who said if Mr. Pope is not freed in some type of humanitarian gesture by Russian President Vladimir Putin, that yes, it would affect U.S.-Russian relations. The Congress has passed a measure asking U.S. President Clinton to take action to end any type of economic aid if Mr. Pope ends up in prison.

Q: What were the core charges against Pope?

DOUGHERTY: The charges were never really completely clear, because they were classified. But, in essence, what he was being accused of is trying to purchase classified information on a high-speed torpedo that is manufactured by Russia.

He always claimed that what he was trying to purchase was information and data that was readily available and not secret or classified, that you could without any problem purchase it.

Q: What is the legal process in Russia? He's been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Can Pope appeal? Can he make parole if he is put in prison?

DOUGHERTY: He can appeal, and he has seven days to do that. His lawyer will go ahead and file that appeal. They will appeal to the Russian Supreme Court.

What happened Wednesday was that he was found guilty and immediately sentenced to the maximum sentence, which is 20 years in a maximum security prison camp.

Some journalists were allowed into the courtroom. Mrs. Pope, his wife, sat holding hands with her husband through the cage. Russian prisoners are kept in a cage in the courtroom. It has metal bars and looks like a prison cell. They held hands through the bars of that cage as the verdict was being read.

Q: What's the public opinion in Russia on this case?

DOUGHERTY: It's hard to really say precisely, because it's all over the board. But essentially, according to one analyst we just spoke to, he said Russians do not want their country to cave in to the United States. In other words, there is not a lot of public pressure on President Putin to immediately grant Pope some type of humanitarian release -- that there is probably a preponderance of feeling that Pope was spying and, even if he wasn't, they do not want Russia appearing to be under the influence of the United States.

The United States, of course, has been asking all along on President Putin to free Pope on humanitarian basis.

Q: Can Putin invoke a humanitarian release, even if the Russian Supreme Court were to uphold the decision on appeal?

DOUGHERTY: The Supreme Court could indeed uphold the decision of the lower court if the case is appealed, which they plan on doing. But then, the question is: Will Mr. Putin intervene and say, inspite of that, I grant a release on humanitarian grounds? Pope has been suffering from cancer. He apparently is in remission, but his wife and his lawyer say that he looks very sick and has deteriorated in prison over these last eight months. So, on a humanitarian basis, they would ask that President Putin simply set aside that verdict.

It appears that President Putin will not be in any particular rush to do anything, because he all along has said that he wants the court case to be resolved. He did indicate a number of months ago in an interview on 'Larry King Live' that if it were to come to him for a decision ultimately, that he would take into account the humanitarian aspects of this case.

Although Putin hasn't said anything since then, his one statement on the case was that he might actually take some action that would be based on humanitarian considerations.

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Moscow accuses U.S. citizen, Russian of spying
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Russians detain U.S. diplomat for spying
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