Arrested U.S. pastor rejects bribery charges - lawyer

[Ian David]

Black Collar Crime
24 July 2007, 11:19

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, July 24, Interfax - The defense lawyer for U.S. missioner, Pastor Pak Hio Sun of the Blagodat (Grace of God) religious organization in Kholmsk, Sakhalin, plans to meet with his client this week to discuss specifics of the criminal case opened against him.

The pastor was detained on July 9 on suspicion of bribing a local migration service official.

"The pastor says he is innocent. I have talked with the investigator, with the pastor's wife and with parishioners, and also with U.S. Consul General Tom Armbruster They quoted the missioner as saying that he had brought all the money he possessed to the head of the Migration Service's Kholmsk department in penalties for an administrative offence incriminated on him, not as a bribe. Not knowing the Russian language and Russian customs, the pastor thought the fine should be delivered directly to the migration service head and did not consider the money to be a bribe," Vyacheslav Zhigalov told Interfax on Tuesday.

Pastor Viktor Kim of the Grace of God Church in Nevelsk said the colleague's arrest was a misunderstanding. "The arrest was due to some misunderstanding and because the pastor did not speak Russian," he said.

The Grace of God Church in Kholmsk has been under construction for five years now on donations coming from different parts of the world, he said. "The church was being built as the money was arriving. The construction was initially run by a company, which subsequently switched to a bigger project. Then Chinese citizens offered their services through an interpreter, assuring the pastor that their migration documents were in order. Trusting them was a mistake," he said.

More:
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=3376