AMERICAN DIRECTOR OF EXCHANGE PROGRAM IN BELARUS IS SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS
FOR DRUGS

A judge in Belarus has sentenced the American director of a U.S. nonprofit
educational-exchange program to five years of hard labor after his
conviction on drug charges.

Charles Perriello reportedly pleaded guilty to using and possessing
marijuana but denied charges of drug trafficking.

Mr. Perriello was arrested in June when officers of the domestic security
services, still known as the KGB, entered his apartment in Minsk while
acting on a tip. Officers said they saw him smoking marijuana and then
found 46 grams of the drug during a search.

Judge Pyotr Kirkovsky, who found Mr. Perriello guilty Monday on all counts,
said that he imposed half of the maximum 10-year prison term in light of
the defendant's remorse, character references, and lack of prior convictions.

The Reuters news agency described Mr. Perriello as nervous and pale in the
holding cell. At his request, journalists left the courtroom before his
sentencing, so the nature of his remarks to the judge is unknown.

Since 1999, Mr. Perriello ran the Belarus programs of the American Council
for Collaboration in Education and Language Study, which was established by
the American Council of Teachers of Russian.