Pubdate: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 Source: Register-Guard, The (OR) Copyright: 2001 The Register-Guard Contact: http://www.registerguard.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362 Author: The Associated Press RUSSIANS MAY FREE TOBIN MOSCOW - John Tobin, a U.S. Fulbright scholar convicted on drug charges, could be freed on good behavior in early August after serving half his one-year sentence, a Russian official said Monday. The announcement came two weeks after Russian security officials said they may bring espionage charges against Tobin - a claim his lawyers called a dubious legal bid to keep him behind bars. Tobin, 24, was convicted in April of obtaining, possessing and distributing drugs in Voronezh, 300 miles south of Moscow, and sentenced to 37 months in prison. A higher court overturned the distribution conviction on appeal and reduced the sentence to a year. Tobin will have served half his prison term on Aug. 2 and will be eligible to apply for early release, a Justice Ministry spokesman in Voronezh, Alexander Babkin, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. The release would have to be approved by the prison administration and then by a court, he said, adding that a hearing probably would take place on Aug. 4-5. Tobin would only be freed if he maintains his record of good behavior in prison, Babkin was quoted as saying. Tobin is held in Rossosh, about 90 miles south of Voronezh. "So far he has not been misbehaving or breaking the prison regimen," Babkin said. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe