Quotes about the Edmond Pope Case

Quotes about the

Edmond Pope Case

"Guilty, 20 years."--State prosecutor Yuri Volgin

"The harshness of the sentence can be explained--it is a political sentence. Once again the KGB/FSB empire is sending a clear message: 'We're back! If we can do this to an American, we will crush you into a pulp too.' They are enjoying their sweet revenge for all the failures and humiliations they suffered in my case and others."--Alexander Nikitin, an environmentalist and former naval captain

"This case must go down in history as a record investigation over three months, a trial over two months and the final sitting of 2-1/2 hours and a sentence read in one hour...This was not a fair trial."--Pope's Lawyer Pavel Astakhov

"The sentence confirmed the correctness and legality of the FSB investigation. There is something to protect in Russia as far as state secrets are concerned, and we have done and will done everything for their protection"--FSB spokesman Alexander Zdanovich

"We are deeply disappointed by today's verdict. Throughout this case we have seen no evidence that Mr. Pope violated any Russian laws. The verdict is unjustifiable, it is flat out wrong and it has cast a shadow over our relationship." --White House National Security spokesman PJ Crowley

"We remain very concerned that his (Pope's) health has deteriorated in recent days," Crowley said. "We have been making clear to the Russian government that they should move to release Mr. Pope on humanitarian grounds."--White House National Security spokesman PJ Crowley

"She hugged him through the bars and then held his hand the entire time."--U.S. Rep. John Peterson, a Republican from the couple's home state of Pennsylvania, said outside the courtroom

"Pope is a victim of not just a change of leadership, but of the whole political paradigm of this country. Right now there's a genuine popular sentiment, stirred up by the rabble-rouser at the top, that Russia is besieged by hostile forces, that the whole world is against us, and that there are spies everywhere."--TIME magazine correspondent Yuri Zharakovich

"The outcome of the trial may have been predetermined. It will be used as a political device to show Russians that President Putin is strong and tough, and then sometime later by releasing him to show Americans that he's also very forgiving."--TIME magazine correspondent Yuri Zharakovich

"I think they [Russia] are at a crossroads. I hope and pray they take the right turn."--U.S. Rep. John Peterson

"The ruling was an inexcusable travesty of justice. If Russia forces Ed Pope, who is suffering from poor health, to serve prison time for a crime he did not commit, that country's relationship with the U.S. will be forever scarred."--US Rep. Greg Walden from Oregon

"The Clinton Administration let him languish for months and didn't demand to free this innocent man. This president has been coasting around the country worrying about a legacy and doing nothing to get [Mr. Pope] out."--US Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania

"Legislative action will occur should Mr. Pope not be released immediately."--US Sen. Gordon H. Smith from Oregon, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on European affairs

"This trial will go down in the history of jurisprudence for the numerous violations permitted. There is no semblance of fairness or justice here."--Pope's Lawyer Pavel Astakhov

"I now call on President Putin and President Clinton to resolve this issue so there is a future for our two countries."--US Rep. John Peterson

"There is a court decision. If anything is to happen, it can only be due to a personal decision by the president. So far, there has not been a reaction from the president on whether he could grant Pope a pardon."--Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Putin Administration

Congressman John E. Peterson of Pennsylvania, condemned the secret proceeding. "It is astounding that no American has ever seen the charges and no American was allowed to see the trial." The congressman mocked the evidence cited, saying that Mr. Pope's alleged profile as a spy was buttressed by Russian claims that he was a member of the Navy Federal Credit Union and the American Legion.

"I don't really understand the Russian judicial system."--Cheri Pope

"Russia has its secrets and we will do our best to protect them. I must say that when the verdict comes into force we will make public some more facts, and we will make a film so that people can make their own judgment."--Gen. Aleksandr Zdanovich, a senior official of Russia's counterintelligence service

“Mr. Pope's plight may serve as another reminder to Russians and Western business people as well as public at large that their earlier enthusiasm for Russia's integration with the West is unfounded. Nationalism under the disguise of national interests, xenophobia and the old Soviet style obsession with secrecy have for the time being prevailed.”--CI Centre Professor Oleg Kalugin in testimony delivered on Capitol Hill on December 6. Read his statement.

"I think the Pope case shows that it is dangerous, not just for businessmen who want to work in Russia...but for journalists too. I think this will get worse. Bureaucrats, not a court, will determine what journalists can write."--Oleg Panfilov, director of Moscow's Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations

"I hope the commission will be merciful, as always, and will recommend that the president pardon Edmond Pope so that he can return home and be reunified with his family," he said. "I believe in the commission and I believe it will pardon Pope."-Anatoly Pristavkin, chairman of the Russian pardons commission

"I think politically it is not beneficial for our government to keep Pope in custody . . . It looks like a farce. The Americans will not take it easy . . . So pardoning will look humane and will be a good will gesture toward a new president to establish a good relationship with a new administration. Common sense should advise our leadership to release him. It will be right from a humanitarian point of view."--Retired Soviet spy Mikhail Lyubimov

"I regret what happened, but I do not regret coming to Russia. I have respect for the Russian people."--Edmond Pope

"I believe Putin in his heart has the humanity to see that my dad will die in prison if he doesn't receive the proper medical attention."--Dustin Pope, son of Edmond Pope

"We don't know what's behind this. It could be that he is emotionally broken, and our emotions can often rule our bodies. When Cheri came out of the visit, she said she felt like she had just hugged a dying old man."--US Rep. John Peterson

"If I was face to face with Putin - I'd be angry that my dad wasn't home. And on the other hand, I'd be offering anything to get my dad released. I'd say: `Take me in the place of my dad.' I don't have cancer. I don't have any of the medical problems that my dad has. I'd serve the 20 years in his place."--Dustin Pope, son of Edmond Pope

"We do not know whether Pope is guilty or not of violating any laws, but we are certain that his guilt was not established during his trial. Therefore, we cannot help but be outraged at his seemingly arbitrary conviction and punishment."--Moscow Times editorial

"He was found guilty the day before he was arrested. If our economy demands that we do business globally, but our country won't protect us, we have a problem. I've been in contact with numerous businesspeople who expressed their disbelief."--Pope business partner Keith McClellan

"The trial of Pope has been a sham, reminiscent of Stalin-era legal proceedings in which the state stopped at nothing to get the result that it sought. This trial has clearly demonstrated the weakness and unprofessionalism of the courts and further reinforced the notion that the state here is incapable of applying its own laws, to say nothing of administering justice."--Moscow Times editorial

"I would consider it likely that people who are interested in high- technology business with Russia have been given pause if not canceled some of their intentions."--US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher

"Businessmen have found that there is a very large grey area of interpretation in Russian law, and that has caused a lot of problems."--Roland Nash, chief economist at the Renaissance Capital investment house

"What might be normal business activity in the West could be illegal under the Russian legal code, or considered suspect by the FSB."--U.S. State Department warning

"I think that the Russian special services started the case just to make the point to the West that they are on alert and spying in Russia is becoming more difficult. It's being used both by domestic politicians and some circles in the West to show that Putin is a step back for Russia, but I don't think there's convincing evidence" for that."

--Alexei Zabotkine, chief economist at the UFG finance house in Moscow

“Friday's unanimous decision by the commission was a protest against alarming signs in the atmosphere today. The investigative and judicial organs of our country have remained in the Soviet era to a greater extent than society (as a whole).”--Russian Pardons commission member Marietta Chudakova

"We believe that Pope's conviction was unjustifiable and wrong."--White House National Security Adviser Sandy Berger

"My son and I were watching [television] the other day and started to have suspicions about this story with Popov, no, Pope. Maybe they are now carrying out a kind of [publicity] campaign and will then go and exchange him [for Ames]."--Retired KGB Colonel Pavel Gromushkin (who helped prepare Rudolph Abel's papers to be an Illegal)

"That's not even under discussion."--White House National Security Adviser Sandy Berger on Russian newspaper speculations on swapping Pope for Rick Ames

"It would be very difficult because the Americans don't consider Pope a spy."--former KGB lieutenant colonel Konstantin Preobrazhensky who said that trading Pope for Ames may have been just what the Federal Security Service had in mind when it went after Pope

"American society would never allow Ames to be released because it is known in the United States that as a result of his work for Moscow many big CIA agents were executed."--Retired KGB Colonel Mikhail Lyubimov

"It's no secret that there are spies in the United States, private individuals connected to business, and the Americans could easily think up a provocation for their arrest."--Retired KGB Colonel Mikhail Lyubimov

"That is why it is quite natural that we got . . . the ever-growing censorship and monopolization of the press, intensifying surveillance, bugging of Internet and telephone calls, a spy mania, a landslide of criminal cases sloppily and brazenly fabricated by the special services.''--Human rights activist Sergei Grigoryants on former KGB agents who are "doing in power what they know best"

The Kremlin has "a peculiar understanding of freedom of speech, differing from the generally accepted one."--Yevgeny Yasin, a former economics minister

"You lawyers need to know, the spy will sooner or later go, but you remain in this country, and it's not known who will be next on trial." --FSB officer to one of Pope's lawyers, Andrei Andrusenko

"The FSB are not trained to get information that would become a convincing argument in court and withstand the probe of the defense."--Newspaper Novye Izvestia

"For them, any procedural matters are still rubbish. They seriously think, even now, that their opinion is the most convincing evidence. They do not want to learn procedural nuances. They want to bring the country back to the time when their judgment is the only thing that matters."--Naum Nim, senior editor of Index on Censorship

"Putin is bringing in his former colleagues, not because he has plotted a KGB revanche, but simply because he understands these people perfectly well. They have their own logic and manner of communication. Since he has been in the service a long time, he knows the rules and finds these people more reliable."--Naum Nim, senior editor of Index on Censorship

"The FSB can save face, Putin can demonstrate that he's not beholden to outside pressure and Russian scientists are given a lesson about the consequences of 'para-scientific' contacts with foreigners."--Segodnya daily

"This [pardon for Pope] is a step away from the Cold War. It is a policy of warm hearts. Pope is not Gary Powers. We should understand that the idea of spying and spy mania has changed."--Pardons' commission member Mark Razovsky

"It will be a great relief to all Americans when Mr. Pope is finally freed and reunited with his family. We want to see him home and safe as soon as possible."--President Clinton

“You know the decision of the presidential pardons commission. The pardons commission is made up of wholly authoritative and respected public figures and cultural figures, and of course I cannot but heed their opinion. We don't make it our goal to look for some causes or reasons to worsen the relationship between the two states.” Russian President Vladimir Putin