Court in Vladivostok upholds arrest of U.S. serviceman

VLADIVOSTOK. May 24 (Interfax) - The Primorye Territorial Court has dismissed an appeal against the arrest of U.S. serviceman Gordon Black, charged with theft, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courtroom.

"The Pervomaisky District Court ruling is upheld, and the appeal is dismissed," the judge said.

The Primorye Territorial Court ruling can be appealed at a cassation panel.

The lawyer said that Black was not a flight risk but planned to live in Vladivostok with his girlfriend.

The prosecutor objected to the appeal and said that Black was on a temporary visa, and his wife and child live abroad. He argued that Black was a flight risk and a milder restrictive measure was therefore inapplicable.

The defendant attended the public hearing by video-link from the pretrial detention facility. He used an interpreter's services due to the insufficient knowledge of Russian. Black objected to journalists taking photos and videos of the hearing.

As reported, the lawyer asked for overruling the order issued by Vladivostok's Pervomaisky District Court on May 3 and denying an investigator's arrest motion.

On May 3, the Pervomaisky District Court in Vladivostok placed the U.S. serviceman under arrest until July 2 on counts of a theft causing substantial damage. The offense is punishable with up to five years in a penitentiary.

The Primorye territorial police department said the 34-year-old suspect was put in Vladivostok Detention Facility No. 1. Later, the Primorye territorial police department told Interfax that Black pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the investigators.

In early May, a local police station received a theft report from a 32-year-old local woman. Investigators established that the woman had a relationship with a foreign citizen, whom she met in South Korea, where she worked. Having returned to Vladivostok, the women continued communicating with the American online. The man came to visit her in Vladivostok on April 10. The claimant later had a quarrel with her acquaintance at home. After he left, the woman discovered that money had disappeared and turned to the police for help.