Box of Hunting Ammo Means Jail for U.S. Pastor

Washington Post ^ | Apr. 22, 2008

[Siberian-psycho]

A Moscow court on Monday convicted an American pastor of smuggling hunting ammunition into Russia and sentenced him to three years and two months in prison. Phillip Miles, pastor of Christ Community Church in Conway, S.C., part of an evangelical fellowship, has been in custody since his arrest Feb. 3, several days after arriving in Moscow. Miles has said he brought the .300-caliber cartridges for a friend who had recently bought a Winchester rifle -- a gun rarely found in Russia. He said he did not know bringing such ammunition into Russia was illegal. "I'm very disappointed. It's a strange sentence for one box of hunting bullets," he said as bailiffs led him from the court in handcuffs. His lawyer, calling the sentence surprisingly severe, said he would appeal.

[mkjessup]

Well Preacher, good luck with the accomodations at the Gulag Putinpelago.

See ya in 3 years or so, 4 if your appeal is successful.

[Past Your Eyes]

I bought some Russian ammo for my SKS at a gun shop. It says on the box “Hurting Rounds”. Maybe that’s what the good pastor was carrying.
That being said, he must be numb as a box of rocks if he would do something like that without even checking ahead of time to see if it was okay. Sheesh.

[TheZMan]

Wow, um...

...

[Siberian-psycho]

From what I heard he claimed them on his declaration and was passed, but three days later was arrested as a smuggler.

[the invisib1e hand]

...strange...

Yeah, that sounds like what someone who's being led to the Gulag would say.

[Siberian-psycho]

I guess he should have been more creative in the way he got them into the country. Leaving them in the box is a dead give away.

[JoeSixPack1]

DUH!

[Siberian-psycho]

“He said he did not know bringing such ammunition into Russia was illegal.”

It is not illegal, or wasn't. I know of guys that go shoot bears in Siberia every year. They take their own guns and ammo. Something is definitely fishy here. Could be Russia is just trying to crack down on another missionary, and found a way of doing so without making it too obvious.

[Travis McGee]

Probably. Do they want to trade for somebody? Have we arrested any FSB goons lately?

[Siberian-psycho]

I don’t know, but your probably right. I know the FSB and Customs agents pulled crap like this with me for the last 5 years I was there. Every time it was a trumped up charge, which they eventually dropped. My cases never made it to court, for which I am very thankful. I think they are just trying to send a message to the Missionary world saying don’t come here.

[Cicero]

That’s my reading. Putin and the KGB play footsie with the Russian Orthodox Church, and they hate any kind of pastor or priest coming into the country.

[Travis McGee]

Yep, Putin is very nationalistic when it comes to protecting the Orthodox church.

[Krankor]

Yeah, they would never have done this to Rasputin.

[El Gato]

Of course the pastor has now lost his RKBA forever. He's been convicted of a crime punishable by more than 2 years in prison. No matter that what he did was not a crime in the US. And he has no way to get that right back. Not even a Presidential pardon, which he likely won't get if Hitlary or B. Hussein are President when he's released, would do the job, unless the Congress, Republican and Democrat alike, quits attaching riders to appropriations bills which forbid BATFE from considering applications for reinstatement, as the law provides for.

[Cold Heart]

Oregon hunting & fishing laws required you to turn yourself in if you accidently/unknowinly broke the law. You then received the full penalty. Things have changed since an Oregon state trooper turned himself in for a fishing violation. Now it just goes on your record unless they find you are a repeat offender.

If a congressman is caught with one of the minor infractions they have upped to felonies, maybe they will change the law. Or not.

[antiRepublicrat]

Well, duh, Putin’s cronies don’t want the competition for arms trafficking, no matter how small.

[Kirkwood]

This isn’t about Russian law. He didn’t pay the bribe when he had the chance.

[trailboss800]

Putin is probably afraid this guy is an advance unit intended to over throw his corrupt butt. Hopefully, the guy will share the good news of Christ with so many that before they let him out of the gulog, he’ll have planted many seeds. God bless bro...

[Siberian-psycho]

Your absolutely right. Very observant.

[gigster]

If you brought this ammo into Washington D.C.
you’d probably get the same sentence.

[Siberian-psycho]

The door there is definately closing to Christain influence. they recently changed the visa laws to limit missionary activity too.

[Kirkwood]

My nephew lived and worked in Moscow for many years and finally left last year when it suddenly became very anti-West and particularly anti-American. He could no longer afford paying protection money to keep from being arrested and charged with crimes against the Russian state.

[Mount Athos]

The door there is definately closing to Christain influence

You have a really strange perspective on Christianity in Russia, divorced from reality.

Russia is overwhelmingly Christian, and the numbers of Christian priests and churches have skyrocketed in the years since the fall of the soviet union.

[Freelance Warrior]

It is not illegal, or wasn't. I know of guys that go shoot bears in Siberia every year. They take their own guns and ammo.

A foreign person can bring guns and ammo into Russia only by an advance permission. The permission may be obtained only inside Russia, so an agent residing in Russia is absolutely necessary.

Typically, an outfitter/sports federation does the paperwork.

Moreover the guns and ammo must fit the Russian bill of arms. E.g. the bill forbids private persons from owning handguns, so bringing any handgun (or handgun ammo) would be illegal.

[Freelance Warrior]

to keep from being arrested and charged with crimes against the Russian state.

What did he do in Russia?

[Siberian-psycho]

This is just one of the many incidents. They have freedom of religion as long as it is Russian Orthadox. A good friend of mine is regularly arrested because for witnessing on the street. I think you need to re-evaluate your concept of reality. I've been there and seen it first hand and went through the persecutions. Yes, Russia was open to religious activity, but they are now closing that door. 26 March 2008 RUSSIA: Methodist church dissolved for having Sunday school By Geraldine Fagan, Forum 18 News Service Because a United Methodist congregation in the western city of Smolensk has a Sunday school, which is attended by four children, the Regional Court dissolved the Church on 24 March, the church's pastor Aleksandr Vtorov told Forum 18 News Service. The court agreed with the Regional Organised Crime Police that the Methodists were breaking the law by conducting "educational activity in a Sunday school without a corresponding licence". Investigation into the congregation began after a complaint from local Russian Orthodox bishop Ignati (Punin). It originally focused on a planned missionary college, before switching to the Sunday school. Vladimir Ryakhovsky of the Moscow-based Slavic Centre for Law and Justice fears the Methodist congregation's liquidation increases the threat to other religious education. "Almost every religious organisation has a Sunday school," he told Forum 18. "I don't know of one that has a separate education licence. Do they intend to liquidate them all?" Elsewhere, adult religious education without a licence has already led to raids and enforced closures.

[Freelance Warrior]

A good friend of mine is regularly arrested because for witnessing on the street.

Is he a Jehovah witness?