Russian MPs to appeal for release of Latvian pilots

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, FEB. 19. Russian parliamentarians will ask for the release of the five Latvian pilots who are jailed in Calcutta during their upcoming visit to India. The Speaker of the Lower House, Mr. Gennady Seleznyov, who will lead a delegation of Russian MPs to India next week, said he would appeal to the President, Mr. K.R. Narayanan, to pardon the pilots, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment last month for airdropping arms in Purulia district of West Bengal in 1995.

``This is a very painful issue for us,'' Mr. Seleznyov said in a question-and-answer session on Mayak Radio on Saturday. ``There is little we can do while appeals are being heard in the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court. But we hope for clemency when the matter goes to the President of India.''

Last week, the pilots' lawyers appealed against the sentence in the Calcutta High Court. They argued that the pilots, whose plane had been rented by some Britishers, did not and could not know that there were weapons on board. The owner of the cargo disappeared when the crew was apprehended by Indian police. The lawyers also said the pilots were seriously ill and could even die before the appeals were heard.

Earlier this month, the Russian Parliament had appealed to the Indian authorities ``to display humanity and take steps to ease the fate of the convicted pilots and facilitate their early return home''.

The Russian MPs also said the incident ``should not be allowed to affect the traditionally warm relations of partnership between the Russian Federation and the Republic of India''.

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Section  : International
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