U.S. Pastor Given More Than 3 Years in Prison for Bringing Rifle Shells Into Russia

MOSCOW — A Moscow court on Monday sentenced a U.S. pastor to more than three years in prison for smuggling hunting ammunition into Russia.

Phillip Miles, from South Carolina, has been in custody since his arrest on Feb. 3. He was arrested several days after customs agents at a Moscow airport found a box of 20 rifle shells in his luggage.

The court sentenced him to serve three years and two months in prison, with the sentence calculated from his detention date.

Miles has said he brought the .300 caliber cartridges for a friend who had recently bought a Winchester rifle. He said he did not know bringing such ammunition into Russia was illegal.

Judge Olga Drozdova accepted in her 20-minute summation that Miles had brought the ammunition for a friend, "as they are both inveterate hunters."

The cartridges were not initially found as he flew into Moscow. They were detected a day later as airport security put his luggage through an X-ray machine while he was on his way to check in for a flight to Perm, a city in Siberia.

I think this guy should have got off with a warning, if he really did'nt know it was illegal to bring ammo to Russia. I really don't think this pastor was intending on breaking the law, and his three year sentence is outrageous. I hope he wins his appeal. Do you think his sentence was just? Is Moscow really that strict on people? Or was it the pastors disreguard for the law that got him in this mess? You tell me.

[edit on 21-4-2008 by schism85]

He does have to read up on, and obey the law just like everyone else, being a pastor doesn't excuse him in the slightest... if fact, being in an influential role means he should be held to a stricter version of the law as an example to his followers.

As for the court ruling, laws are in place, and the judge cannot simply dismiss a law because that judge deems it unworthy. A judge has to think of precedences, if she let him off for this, then the next real gun-runner can simply point at the case and say "Well he got off with a warning for 20 shells, I was shipping in multiples of 20 as well."

Also, I don't know if the case involved a body of peers. If it does, then the Russian view on American Christians is pretty bad, as if it were a jury... this guy just got unanimously slammed by the people of Russia.

[edit on 21-4-2008 by johnsky]

WOAH....

before we start shouting our heads off here...

What if a russian had brought something illegal into the US, would he not be arrested on suspicion of terrorism, tazered, beaten and then jailed??

Just food for thought.

I would think that if he's a pastor his god would have given him the knowledge to know what he was doing was stupid. Or maybe god would have just spared him some of the trouble that he's in now.

good post

Also, I don't know if the case involved a body of peers. If it does, then the Russian view on American Christians is pretty bad, as if it were a jury... this guy just got unanimously slammed by the people of Russia.

I am not christian at all, and I am not saying he should have got off because he was a priest, but he surely was not a gun runner. The judge could have took that into consideration, but I do not know how Russian courts work, maybe she could'nt. As far as there being a body of peers, I did not know that Russians did not have such a good view on Christians. Some non-christians in America would definitely agree.

I also think he should have read up before leaving. I plan everything before hand if I go somewhere and if I was going to Russia to hunt, you better believe I would have checked out every scenario, before I left.


But the time doesn't fit the crime imao.








[edit on 21-4-2008 by schism85]

Originally posted by mr-lizard
WOAH....

before we start shouting our heads off here...

What if a russian had brought something illegal into the US, would he not be arrested on suspicion of terrorism, tazered, beaten and then jailed??

Just food for thought.

Mr-Lizard, what if it was a Moola or what the hell they call those Muslims priests. You are dead on. Ignorance of the law doesn't mean a get out of jail free card.