U.S. Man Convicted on Drug Charges

A Belarussian court convicted a U.S. citizen on drug charges and sentenced him to five years of hard labor in a prison camp.

Charles Perriello, who worked on U.S. government-funded projects to promote freedom to schoolchildren, had pleaded guilty to charges of possessing and smoking marijuana. But he denied charges of selling drugs to others. He was convicted on all counts.

Perriello, 40, of New York, was arrested in June by the Belarussian secret service, still known as the KGB.

Although the case comes at a time of deteriorating relations between the U.S. and Belarus, KGB spokesman Fyodor Kotov, attending the sentencing, denied that there were political overtones to the case.