RUSSIA: One of Russia's most talented and controversial contemporary writers, Mr Edward Limonov, was sentenced to four years in jail yesterday for possessing firearms, but was cleared of inciting terrorism and plotting to overthrow the government.
The court case pitted sharp-tongued satirist Limonov - who has variously called President Vladimir Putin a loser, an idiot and "a vampire sucking Russians' blood" - against the FSB security service for which Mr Putin worked when it was still called the KGB.
The FSB alleged that Mr Limonov (60) had used a pamphlet published by his extremist National Bolshevik Party to incite members to take up arms and carve out "a second Russia" in Kazakhstan. From there, prosecutors said, Mr Limonov and his followers planned to launch attacks on Russia itself.
But a judge in the southern Russian town of Saratov ruled that the prosecution had not proved that Mr Limonov had written the offending article, or that he had actually planned to launch any attacks with his weapons, Ria news agency reported. And while sentencing Mr Limonov to four years in jail and five associates to shorter terms, all for possession of firearms, the judge also admonished the FSB for making a host of mistakes.
Russian television showed the wiry Mr Limonov saying he was pleased with the verdict, as he was led out of the metal cage reserved for defendants in courtrooms here.
His long, greying hair was swept back, his moustache and goatee beard were neat and he gazed intently at the judge from behind his square glasses.
Mr Alexander Tkachenko, general director of the Russian branch of International PEN, a group that campaigns on behalf of jailed writers worldwide, said the FSB had arrested Mr Limonov to silence his strident and extremist views.
"Four years is a long sentence for this kind of case," Mr Tkachenko told The Irish Times. "But I did not have much faith in the court, because there was another organisation that planned all this - the FSB.