[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 26422-26423]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    CONVICTION OF ED POPE IN RUSSIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hulshof). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to 
unfortunately relate to my colleagues my concern about the conviction 
of an American citizen in Russia by the name of Ed Pope.
  Ed Pope is an academic affiliated with Penn State University who had 
a distinguished career in our military and who was simply doing 
research and marketing work with Russian institutions when he was 
arrested without reason earlier this year, put in a prison in Moscow 
without proper medical care, without proper attention.
  In spite of cancer, in spite of an illness that his father has that 
is terminal, in spite of the pleadings of many of us on both sides of 
the aisle, in particular the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Peterson), who represents Ed Pope and his family, Ed Pope was convicted 
this week and given a sentence of 20 years in Russia's prisons.
  Mr. Speaker, Ed Pope is not a criminal. Ed Pope is innocent. I have 
copies of the contracts that Ed Pope had signed with Russian agents in 
charge of Russian institutes who had empowered him to work to market 
Russia's underwater propulsion technology. During Ed Pope's trial, the 
chief witness against him recanted his testimony. In fact, the defense 
attorney for Ed Pope provided information on what Ed Pope was marketing 
was available in open sources in this country. In fact, everyone 
involved with this case understands that Ed Pope is an innocent man.

[[Page 26423]]



                              {time}  1700

  When I was in Moscow this summer, I held a press conference in the 
city and informed the Russian people and the media that this was a bad 
direction for Russia to take. We must with all of our bipartisan effort 
reach out and ask President Putin to pardon Ed Pope and let him return 
to his family.
  Mr. Speaker, on a down side and a negative tone, if you want to 
convict someone in this process, it would be Bill Clinton and Al Gore, 
because during the first few months of Ed Pope's imprisonment, our 
State Department and White House were silent. They did not say 
anything. In fact, the initial response of our ambassador was that it 
is a private matter between our citizen and the Russian government. 
Only after the media raised these questions did the administration 
finally begin to raise the issue of Ed Pope. President Clinton and Vice 
President Al Gore should have demanded the release of Ed Pope but they 
did not. And so Ed Pope was convicted.
  And now I relate to my colleagues my greatest concern. My fear from 
sources inside of Russia just last week told me that Ed Pope will be 
offered in exchange for a convicted Russian spy or a spy that Russia 
supports in our country. And if we are asked to trade a convicted 
person who did crimes against this country for an innocent man, it 
means this administration has allowed us to be sucked into a situation 
where we may be forced to trade someone who was a convicted criminal to 
get someone back who is an innocent citizen.
  Russia needs to release Ed Pope, because Ed Pope is innocent, because 
Ed Pope has health problems, because his father is dying. There should 
be no quid pro quo. Russia should not expect to get a convicted spy in 
this country in return. This administration had better stand up for 
this American citizen, unlike the other American citizens whose rights 
have been abused over the past several years, like Lieutenant Jack 
Daley, like Notra Trulock, like Ed McCallum, like Jay Stuart, and like 
others who have been prosecuted for simply doing their job.
  I call upon my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to demand the 
Russian president release Ed Pope, send him back to his family, and in 
no way allow the Russians to receive a convicted spy in this country in 
return for that action.

                          ____________________