No Bail For Accused American Spy

A Pennsylvania businessman accused of spying and held in a top security Russian jail was refused bail Thursday, despite his lawyer's arguments that he may have cancer and needs specialized medical help.

Edmond Pope, a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer, was arrested in April on charges of purchasing secret design information about a high-tech torpedo for tens of thousands of dollars. His lawyer said Thursday he is accused of buying the plans from a Russian science professor.

The lawyer, Pavel Astakhov, said Pope denied trying to purchase documents containing secret information. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday, "We've seen no evidence that Pope has violated any Russian laws."

At the hearing, judges ruled Pope will remain in Moscow's Lefortovo jail until a trial in October. The barbed-wire and concrete complex in a Moscow suburb is reserved for people accused of espionage or other breaches of national security.

"The judges decided not to let Mr. Pope free until the main trial," Astakhov said. He said judges will ask a Russian cancer specialist to visit Pope in jail, and granted a request to allow Pope to call his parents in the United States.

U.S. consular officials were not allowed into Thursday's closed hearing, Boucher said.

Pope, 54, suffers headaches and dizziness in his jail cell nearly every day and believes his cancer has returned, Astakhov said. Pope, originally from Grants Pass, Ore., has a thyroid disease and previously was treated for bone cancer.

Astakhov said Lefortovo has no qualified oncologists among its staff doctors and that the only treatment Pope received was analgesics for the headaches.

Russia's penal system is stunningly overcrowded and underfunded. Conditions are generally dismal, with disease rampant and inmates sometimes sleeping in shifts.

After the hearing, police in flak jackets hustled Pope out of the Lefortovo Regional Court. He wore a suit and appeared nervous but walked without difficulty. "Sorry, I can't comment," Pope said.

Pope faces 20 years in prison if convicted. Astakhov said he faces one count of procuring state secrets, and previous accusations of a long-term spying effort were dropped for lack of evidence.

Pope worked for the Pennsylvania State University's Applied Research Laboratory after retiring from the navy. He later founded CERF Technologies International, a company specializing in studying foreign maritime equipment. He frequently traveled to Russia.

A statement from Penn State said his work there involved converting technology for commercial purposes.

Agents of the Russian Federal Security Service arrested Pope on April 3 for allegedly buying plans for a torpedo propulsion system.

U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., who has helped Pope's family in the case, has said Pope was only gathering information about a torpedo that has been advertised commercially.

Russian officials have described the weapon as aunderwater missile that glides on huge air bubbles it creates as it goes, and can reach speeds of up to 225 mph.

Astakhov said police have also arrested the man who allegedly sold Pope the designs. He said the man, a professor at the Bauman State Technical University in Moscow, will be tried separately. Nobody answered phones Thursday at the university.

By ANDREW KRAMER