Reuters American Student, Freed From Russian Jail, Is Home By Christopher Michaud NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. student John Tobin returned to the United
States on Wednesday after being paroled from a Russian prison on drug
charges and hints of espionage that strained U.S.-Russian relations.
Tobin, accompanied by his father, John, and Connecticut Democratic Rep.
James Maloney both of whom fought for his release, landed at John F.
Kennedy International Airport after leaving Moscow earlier in the day.
``It's great to be back in the land of the free ... and a country where
basic human rights are respected,'' an exhausted-looking Tobin his father
at his side, told reporters at a press conference in an airport hangar.
``It's great to be home,'' he said.
Fulbright scholar Tobin, known as Jack to his family, was released last
week from a jail in southern Russia, six months into a year-long sentence
for possessing a small amount of marijuana.
His case drew international attention and cooled Washington's relations
with Moscow when Russian security police repeatedly said 24-year-old Tobin
was training to be a spy, without ever pressing espionage charges.
He said in an e-mail to an official from the Fulbright program that the
security police had offered to drop the charges if he acted as an
informant. Tobin was initially sentenced to three years, but the sentence
was reduced to one year, making him eligible for parole last Friday.
``The allegations are false,'' he said at the news conference. He said
he declined to apply for a pardon, which would have freed him earlier,
because it entailed admitting he was guilty.
``Jack was asked to betray his country. He refused,'' said Maloney,
adding that Tobin was interrogated and threatened.
Tobin said he was treated fairly in prison and that he was not abused.
He made friends there, he said, took home some gifts from prisoners and
even dined with the warden.
``He always had a way of turning things into an adventure,'' his father
said. He also hinted that Tobin may write a book about his ordeal.
``He's got a story to tell. He's got a story to write if he wants to
... It's a fabulous story,'' said his father.
He said that Tobin, who left the news conference abruptly, would not be
returning to his home in Connecticut until next week, but did plan to
spend the next week to ten days with family and friends.
``He's had an ordeal and he needs some time to reflect,'' he said.
Calling him ``physically diminished,'' his father said Tobin needed to
see a doctor. ``He's lost a lot of weight. We're surprised he even agreed
to do this,'' he said.
On the plane home, Tobin ate a hamburger, apparently fulfilling a wish
he had before boarding the plane in Moscow. Asked what he was looking
forward to most as he left the Russian capital, he said, ``Hamburgers!'' Copyright © 2001. Reuters. All rights reserved. saved from url: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010808/ts/russia_usa_tobin_dc_14.html
August 8, 2001
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