Life term for Bleach, 5 others

CALCUTTA, FEB. 2. In a significant judgment, the City Civil and Sessions Court, Calcutta, today sentenced a British national, Peter Bleach, and five Latvians to rigourous imprisonment (RI) for life and fined them Rs. 25,000 each on the charge of conspiring to wage war against the State in the Purulia Armsdrop case.

Bleach and Latvians Igor Timmerman, Igor Moskvitin, Oleg Gaidach, Alexander Klichin and Evgueny Antimenko, were also sentenced to 7 years' RI and a fine of Rs 10,000 each under section 25 (1-a) of the Arms Act, 1959, besides 2 years' RI and fine of Rs 5,000 each under 25 (1-B) (F) and (G) of the act.

They were sentenced to 2 years' RI under Section 9B(2) of the Explosives Act, 1884, along with 10 years' RI and fine of Rs 15,000 each under Section 5 of the Explosives Substances Act, 1908.

Besides, they were sentenced to 1 year RI and a fine of Rs 3,000 each, under Section 10 of the Aircraft Act, 1934, and a simple imprisonment of 3 months under Section 11 and an RI of 3 months under Section 11-a of the same act.

All the sentences would run concurrently, the court's fourth bench judge, Mr. P. K. Biswas, said.

Pronouncing the sentence after their conviction on Monday under provisions of Section 121-a of the Indian Penal Code, Mr. Biswas described the case as ``rarest of the rare'' and one that put the safety and security of the country at stake.

Meanwhile, Bleach and the five Latvians have said that they would challenge the judgement in the Calcutta High court.

The British national told presspersons outside the court that he would take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary.

- PTI

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