Crime and punishment

Russia: An American pastor goes to jail in Moscow | Jamie Dean

From a defendant's cage in a Moscow courtroom on April 21, American pastor Phillip Miles quietly listened as a Russian judge found him guilty of smuggling a box of hunting ammunition into the country in late January. The conviction was a blow for Miles, who denies the smuggling charges, and the sentence was severe: three years and two months in prison.

Miles, the pastor of Christ Community Church in Conway, S.C., has been jailed in Moscow since Feb. 3 when Russian authorities detained him at the end of a short-term mission trip to Siberia.

Dominic Starr, a member of Miles' church and an attorney working on his case stateside, told WORLD that Miles, 57, packed in his checked luggage a box of hunting shells as a gift for a friend in Siberia. Starr said the pastor declared the ammunition at the Atlanta airport before leaving the United States. When he arrived in Moscow, Miles and his Russian translator reviewed customs regulations at the airport and thought Miles wasn't required to declare the ammunition, said Starr.