Yeltsin pardons jailed RP seaman

Yeltsin pardons jailed RP seaman

MANILA (AFP): A Filipino seaman serving time in a Russian jail
has been pardoned by President Boris Yeltsin, the Philippine
foreign department said yesterday, urging President Fidel Ramos
to reciprocate in the case of a Russian jailed here.

The department did not identify the seaman, who was jailed two
years ago for illegal possession of a deadly weapon.

The department urged Ramos to consider a reciprocal pardon to
Georgia-born Vadim Surkov, who is standing trial here for illegal
possession of firearms. The 1992 case has yet to be resolved in
court.

"Given the grant of pardon (to the Filipino seaman), it may
now be propitious for the Philippine government to consider a
similar grant, as a reciprocal gesture," Philippine ambassador to
Moscow Romualdo Ong said in a letter to the home office.

Since the option is open only for convicted prisoners, an
arrangement would probably be worked out in which the suspect
would plead guilty and be deported, foreign department officials
said.