The Russian court, where US businessman Edmond Pope is standing trial on espionage charges, could deliver its verdict Wednesday, the defendant's lawyer told AFP.
"I do not rule out a verdict being handed down today," said Pavel Astakhov, adding: "The text of the verdict, it's no secret to anybody, has already been written."
Pope, 54, was due Wednesday to make a final plea in his six-week trial on espionage that could see him sentenced to 20 years' hard labor in a Russian prison camp if convicted.
The retired US marine intelligence officer has been held in Moscow's Lefortovo prison since April when he was arrested on suspicion of purchasing top-secret defense documents from a Russian scientist.
Pope, whose lawyers have called for an acquittal, admits buying the documents outlining Russia's high-speed underwater Shkval missile system on behalf of his US-based hi-tech company, but argues the information was already in the public domain -- MOSCOW (AFP)
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