Espionage trial opens against U.S. businessman

MOSCOW - Opening the espionage trial against U.S. businessman Edmond Pope, a Moscow judge agreed Wednesday to an independent medical examination to determine whether the American is healthy enough to remain in prison.

Pope, a retired U.S. Navy officer from State College, Pa., was arrested in April by Russia's Federal Security Service on charges that he tried to buy plans for a high-speed Russian torpedo. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The 54-year-old Pope - who has been treated for a rare form of bone cancer - says he's innocent. The United States has called repeatedly for his release from Moscow's Lefortovo prison, where he has been held for six months.

U.S. officials have warned that the case could discourage American investment in Russia. Russian officials have responded by saying American criticism amounts to meddling in Russia's legal system.

Pope's lawyer, Pavel Astakhov, told reporters at the Moscow city court that he did not see the 26-page indictment until Wednesday, and that Pope had not been permitted to study it closely because it was based on classified documents.

The judge, Nina Barkina, is to read the indictment at the next session, on Friday.

Barkina ordered the defense to submit by Friday the names of doctors they want to examine Pope. Astakhov said he would insist on an American doctor - a request that has been denied.

''Otherwise, it will be another farce, another fiction,'' Astakhov said. He suggested that prison doctors who have said Pope is healthy have ignored the cancer concern.

Astakhov also demanded a new translator, saying the one at the hearing might be biased because he is from the Federal Security Service, the agency that has lodged the charges against Pope. He said Pope might refuse to testify because of the translator.

The lawyer said Pope doubted the accuracy of the translation of the indictment, which he was permitted to see three times - once when he signed it and on two other occasions when he was allowed to read it for an hour.

The court hearing was closed, and U.S. Embassy officials were not permitted inside. Only Astakhov addressed reporters gathered outside.

''At this stage our concern is about the trial process, about the lack of information,'' U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering, who was in Moscow for bilateral talks on terrorism, said at a press conference.

Astakhov said his client was pessimistic about the outcome of the trial, which was expected to last up to four weeks, and that he was not feeling well.

A key figure in the case, a university professor named Anatoly Babkin, was not on the list of prosecution witnesses, Astakhov said. He said the defense will insist Babkin testify because he helped Pope search for unclassified naval equipment designs.

''The whole case is built on the testimony of Anatoly Ivanovich Babkin,'' Astakhov said. ''Either he will confirm his earlier testimony or he will explain the circumstances, will explain how this testimony was produced.''

Babkin had been charged with divulging state secrets, but the Federal Security Service suspended the case.

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 dozens of times.

Pope's supporters and family say he was seeking information on an underwater propulsion system that is at least 10 years old and has already been sold abroad.