Pope Trial: Were They Secrets?

A Russian weapons specialist who testified Thursday in the espionage trial of U.S. businessman Edmond Pope said technical papers that Pope is accused of trying to acquire illegally were not classified, the defense lawyer said.

Pope, 54, a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer from State College, Pa., was arrested April 3 in Moscow on charges of trying to buy classified blueprints of a high speed torpedo used by the Russian navy.

Pope's supporters have said the plans were for a 10-year old technology that has already been sold abroad.

The Shkval torpedo that allegedly interested Pope glides on huge air bubbles it creates as it goes, and it can build up speeds of hundreds of miles per hour underwater.

Pope's lawyer, Pavel Astakhov, said he called a specialist on weapons systems from the Moscow Aviation Institute, an engineering college, as a defense witness in the closed-door trial.

Arsenty Myandin, an expert on the Shkval, testified that the plans that Pope allegedly tried to purchase were not classified. Myandin said he had spoken openly about the underwater weapon for 15 years, Astakhov said.

Astakhov said the testimony would help Pope's case.

Previously, Astakhov was downbeat about Pope's chances of vindication in court. He said that Judge Nina Barkina had turned down dozens of defense motions, including a request to call as a witness the professor at Moscow Bauman Technical University who allegedly provided the plans to Pope.

The judge on Thursday denied a motion to introduce a contract between the Russian arms trading agency, Rosvooruzheniye, and Pennsylvania State University, that set out the terms for transferring technology, Astakhov said.

The court also has denied a request to allow English-speaking doctors to examine Pope, who has suffered from bone cancer. The disease was in remission when he traveled to Russia six months ago, but his relatives fear it may have returned.

Pope worked for the Applied Research Laboratory at Pennsylvania State University. He later founded CERF Technologies International, a company specializing in studying foreign maritime equipment, and traveled to Russia often.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a nonbinding resolution last week urging the Clinton administration to link future aid to Russia to Pope's release.

The trial has strained Russian-U.S. relations and President Clinton has personally asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to set Pope free.

Pope's wife, Cheri, who visited her husband briefly Wednesday, told Ekho Moskvy radio that she and Pope's mother had written a letter to Putin asking for his personal intervention in the case, but had received no reply.

She said they had asked him "to please take into consideration that Ed is 54 years old and that we want him home."

By CHRISTINA SEUELL