RUSSIAN COURT DENIES APPEAL BY U.S. STUDENT JAILED FOR DRUGS

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- A Russian court Tuesday rejected a new appeal by
John Tobin, a U.S. Fulbright scholar jailed in Russia on a drug conviction,
Tobin's congressman said.

Rep. James Maloney, D-Conn., said the court refused to overturn the
conviction for marijuana possession.

Tobin, 24, has denied any wrongdoing. He has said he was framed by Russian
authorities after he refused their request to become a spy.

A court in Voronezh, 300 miles south of Moscow, sentenced Tobin to 37
months in prison in April. On appeal the Voronezh Regional Court reduced
the sentence to a year and dropped convictions on charges of drug dealing,
operating a drug den and drug distribution.

Tobin's lawyer, Maxim Bayev, filed a second appeal to the Voronezh Regional
Court on June 18 seeking to get the marijuana charge dropped.

Tobin's lawyer in Russia could not be reached for comment by telephone and
the courts were closed at the time Maloney announced the ruling.

Maloney, who represents Tobin's hometown of Ridgefield, said he was
disappointed but not surprised by Tuesday's ruling.

"The Russians have been signaling for some time that they want this matter
resolved either through a pardon request, which Jack has declined to do, or
through parole of his remaining sentence," Maloney said.

On Monday, a Russian official said Tobin could be freed on good behavior in
early August after serving half his one-year sentence.

Tobin has refused to seek a pardon because he believes he has done nothing
wrong, Maloney said.

Tobin, who was studying at Voronezh State University on a Fulbright
scholarship, is a graduate of Middlebury College and had studied at a U.S.
military intelligence school and at the elite Defense Language Institute.