RUSSIAN COURT SENTENCES U.S. SCHOLAR TO 3 YEARS IN PRISON ON DRUG CHARGES

VORONEZH, Russia (AP) -- A Russian judge sentenced an American Fulbright
scholar on Friday to three years and one month in prison after convicting
him on charges of drug possession, purchase and distribution.

John Tobin, 24 years old, of Ridgefield, Conn., was found innocent of
another charge, persuading others to use narcotics.

Before the verdict was read, Mr. Tobin delivered his final statement to the
court from the metal cage where defendants are confined during Russian trials.

"Your Honor, respected participants in the trial, I consider myself not
guilty. I am a student. I came here to study," he said in Russian.

Addressing an initial charge of organizing a drug den, which a prosecutor
threw out earlier this week for lack of evidence, Mr. Tobin said people
would gather in his rented apartment "just to socialize."

"I don't have anything to do with drugs," he said. "I ask you to decide my
case fairly. I never offered or sold anyone drugs."

After a break of several hours, Judge Tatyana Korchagina reconvened the
court to deliver the verdict. The small chamber was filled with Mr. Tobin's
teachers and friends from Voronezh State University, where he had been
studying political science on a Fulbright scholarship.

One of his friends, 24-year-old Dmitry Zornikov, leaned toward the cage.

"Jack, hang in there. We love you, and we're waiting for you," he said,
eliciting a rare smile from Mr. Tobin.

Judge Korchagina then pronounced the sentence of three years and one month
in a medium-security prison.

"In spite of the fact that the defendant has not recognized his guilt, it
is supported by the testimony of witnesses," Judge Korchagina said. "In
sentencing, we have taken into consideration the fact that he committed a
serious crime, and the positive recommendations from his place of studies,
and the fact that he never before faced charges."

The charges carry a sentence of four years, but Judge Korchagina said she
cut it because of the positive, mitigating factors. His sentence is
considered to have begun on Feb. 2, the first day he spent in pretrial
detention.

Mr. Tobin showed no reaction as the sentence was read, and refused to
answer reporters' questions before being led from the courtroom. His
lawyer, Maxim Bayev, said he would appeal the sentence and demand in
particular that the conviction for drug distribution be overturned because
it wasn't upheld by the evidence.

What would have been a run-of-the-mill drug case was tinged with an aura of
espionage after the Russian security service accused Mr. Tobin of having
ties with American intelligence -- though he wasn't charged with spying.

Mr. Tobin was detained on Jan. 26 as he left a nightclub in the central
Russian city of Voronezh, and police said he had a matchbox containing
marijuana. More of the drug was uncovered during a search of his apartment,
police said.

After his trial opened this week, prosecutors said the charges of
organizing a drug den and distributing narcotics as a member of an
organized group couldn't be upheld. But they called for Mr. Tobin to be
convicted for drug possession and obtaining drugs with the intent of
distribution.

The accusation of intelligence connections came about a week after the
U.S.'s arrest of FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen on charges of spying for
Russia, which escalated tensions over espionage between Washington and Moscow.

Mr. Tobin, a graduate of Vermont's Middlebury College, studied at a U.S.
military school and at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif.

Mr. Bayev said Mr. Tobin had been held in relatively good conditions during
the trial, in a six-person cell with one or two other cellmates. U.S.
consular officers have been able to visit him occasionally, but Russian
officials turned down Mr. Tobin's requests for a television and his own books.