In Moscow, Attorney Resorts to Rhyme in Plea for Alleged U.S. Spy

MOSCOW — A lawyer defending U.S. businessman Edmond D. Pope on espionage charges broke into rhyming verse in court Friday in a last attempt to secure an acquittal.

Pavel Astakhov said a conviction for the 54-year-old Pope, who suffers from bone cancer, would be tantamount to a death sentence.

The prosecution is seeking a 20-year prison term on charges that Pope tried to acquire secret material on Russian torpedoes.

Astakhov recited for TV cameras and a Moscow radio station the poem he said he had read out in court.

“Please tell me how an American/Can fulfill his right to defend himself if he knows not of what he stands accused/And with no documents in hand,” the poem began.

It went on to relate how the court had rejected most defense motions and accused it of numerous procedural violations.

“The criminal code does not yet have a soul/But you have a soul, this I know for certain/Russians are rich in their soul/With honorable faith, gazing into the eyes of the Creator.”

Pope, a former U.S. naval intelligence officer, has said he was researching openly available military technology. He was arrested in April.