Pubdate: Thu, 26 Apr 2001
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2001 The Register-Guard
Contact:  http://www.registerguard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362
Author: Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/russia (Russia clippings)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis clippings)

PROSECUTOR URGES 4-YEAR PRISON TERM FOR SCHOLAR

VORONEZH, Russia - A prosecutor on Wednesday asked a court to drop drug 
trafficking charges against an American Fulbright scholar but urged that he 
be sentenced to four years in prison for possession of a small quantity of 
marijuana.

Police exaggerated how much marijuana they found and lack enough evidence 
for the more serious charges against John Tobin of Ridgefield, Conn., 
prosecutor Marina Galagan said during his trial.

She asked that he be convicted on the lesser charges of drug possession and 
obtaining drugs with the intent of distribution.

Tobin was arrested Jan. 26 as he left a nightclub in the city of Voronezh, 
and police say he had a matchbox containing marijuana.

The case gained more notoriety when Russian officials described Tobin, 24, 
as a spy in training. He wasn't charged with spying, but the drug charges 
were expanded from possession to the more serious charges of distribution 
by an organized group and running a drug den.

The most serious charge carries 15 years in prison.
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