American Held as Spy Is in Poor Health, Wife Says

MOSCOW —  A U.S. businessman at the center of a prolonged and increasingly testy spy scandal is in poor health and could die if Russian officials continue to deny him access to Western medical experts, his wife said Tuesday.

Edmond D. Pope, 54, has been jailed here since April 3 on espionage charges for obtaining information about a Russian high-speed torpedo.

His wife, Cheryl, was permitted to visit him for two hours Tuesday and described him as “very fragile.”

“He held on to me when we hugged,” she said in a small, wavering voice. “He was very weak and he was very tired.”

In the post-Cold War world, most spy scandals are resolved quickly and involve expelling an accused diplomat from the country. But as a businessman, Pope cannot claim diplomatic immunity and has little legal leverage.

Pope was a career naval intelligence officer before going into business. Since 1997, he has headed a Pennsylvania-based import firm called CERF Technologies International, which markets declassified Russian technology in the United States.

“The patterns and methods of Pope’s work as the director of a private commercial organization completely match the pattern of gathering military intelligence for the United States,” Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, the successor to the KGB, said this week in a statement.

If convicted, Pope could face a 20-year prison term.

Pope was arrested after paying a business contact for the specifications of a high-speed torpedo known as the Squall. It can race through water at speeds topping 200 mph--far faster, analysts say, than Western rivals.

Pope’s defenders say that information about the torpedo is available publicly and that the weapon has been sold on the open market. But the FSB says important aspects of the torpedo’s design remain top secret.

“Certain technical decisions related to this unique product remain secret, and preventing their dissemination permits Russia to keep its superiority in this field even if finished models are sold,” the FSB said after Pope’s arrest.

On Thursday, a Moscow court denied a motion to release Pope for medical reasons. Cheryl Pope said Tuesday that her husband suffers from an extremely rare form of bone cancer that was in remission at the time of his arrest but might have since returned. She said he has been suffering from headaches, blurred vision and dizziness.

Russian officials say that Pope has been examined by doctors, including an oncologist, more than 10 times, and that the authorities believe he is well enough to remain in jail and face trial. But Cheryl Pope said her husband told her that jail officials had denied his requests to see a doctor.

Rep. John E. Peterson (R-Pa.), who represents the district that includes the Popes’ home in State College, insisted that Russian doctors are unlikely to be able to correctly diagnose Pope’s cancer, which required special evaluation by the National Institutes of Health near Washington. He also said Pope suffers from Graves’ disease, a thyroid disorder.

“If the cancer has returned--and he has symptoms that make him very concerned--and if we do not catch it soon, Edmond Pope will die,” Peterson said at a news conference here Tuesday.

Peterson said Pope’s Russian lawyer is seeking to have the businessman admitted to a guarded Russian medical clinic where he can be examined by Western doctors. If that is denied, Peterson would like Pope to be examined in jail by U.S. Embassy doctors.

In Washington, the State Department on Tuesday said Pope’s treatment should make American businesspeople think twice about working in Russia.

“Russia’s treatment of Mr. Pope since his arrest raises serious concerns about the safety and security of American business travelers in Russia and about our ability to protect the health and welfare of American citizens who may be traveling or living in Russia,” said State Department spokesman Philip T. Reeker.

“We have seen absolutely no evidence that Mr. Pope violated any Russian laws, and we are both disturbed and concerned that he remains in custody,” Reeker added.

Cheryl Pope said her husband, who speaks limited Russian, told her that he was sharing a cell with five other inmates. He has been permitted no personal items except two photographs.

“We counted and count the Russian people as friends of ours,” she said. “And we don’t know why this is happening to us.”

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Times staff writer Norman Kempster in Washington contributed to this report.