India frees pilots from Calcutta prison

RIGA - Five pilots from Latvia released from life sentences for arms smuggling in India met a warm welcome from their families in Moscow on July 25. The men had spent five years in a Calcutta prison.

Former Latvia residents and now Russian citizens, squadron commander Aleksander Klishin, second pilot Oleg Gaidash, flight engineer Igor Timmerman, cargo operator Yevgeniy Antimenko and navigator Igor Moskvitin left prison on July 22.

A sixth man, British pilot and former army officer Peter Bleach remained in prison in Calcutta. The men have been in Indian custody since 1995 when Indian fighter jets forced down their Russian-made plane after they dropped off 241 Kalashnikov sub-machine guns, 77 anti-tank grenades and 24,000 rounds of ammunition in West Bengal. They were sentenced to life on Feb. 2 for supplying weapons to an insurgent Hindu sect.

According to wire reports, relatives said the airmen were naturalized by Russia in late 1999 after several requests beginning in 1996, thinking Russian backing stronger than Latvia's in getting them a settlement sooner.

Russian diplomats in New Delhi submitted a petition for release of the pilots last weekend. Additionally, Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, had threatened to cancel a visit to India slated for October. Whether the pilots could return to Latvia on residence permits is unclear. Latvian legislation does not allow residence permits to persons who have been convicted for crimes punishable in Latvia.

Timmerman has a sister and 70-year-old mother in Latvia. Klishin's wife has moved to Russia, but his married daughter lives in Latvia, as does Antimenko's wife and two children. Moskvitin has a wife and 7 year old child. Gaidash is divorced.