Yekaterinburg resident sentenced to six years in prison
Interfax. Friday, Aug. 20, 2004, 3:18 PM Moscow TimeYEKATERINBURG. Aug 20 (Interfax-Urals) - The Sverdlovsk
region's court on Friday convicted a Yekaterinburg resident on charges of
threatening terrorism, and sentenced him to six years in prison, Galina
Subbotina, an aide to the court's chairman, told Interfax.
Alexander Raskovalov was accused of sending letters containing white powder to
the U.S. Consulate General in Yekaterinburg and the Canadian embassies in
Finland, Portugal, Germany and Belgium threatening to stage terrorist attacks.
Authorities suggested Raskovalov was trying to threaten the diplomatic
communities into helping him locate a Canadian woman, with whom he had agreed
via Internet correspondence to arrange a fake marriage to obtain a Canadian
residence permit. The woman asked him to send $3,000 to prepare the necessary
documents. He sent the money, after which the woman stopped replying to his
letters