#13 - JRL 7067
Controversial Russian writer to be sentenced in April

MOSCOW. Feb 18 (Interfax) - The sentence for the controversial Russian writer Eduard Limonov and five activists of his National Bolshevik Party will be announced on April 15, a lawyer said on Tuesday.

   Limonov, who is the party leader, and his five fellow party members are charged with terrorist plotting, trying to organize illegal armed groups, and illegal possession of weapons.

   Limonov is also charged with calling for the forcible change of the Russian constitution.

   He and Sergei Aksyonov, the founder of the newspaper Limonka, are also accused planning to organize an illegal armed group in Kazakhstan.

   "We expect an acquittal," Limonov's lawyer Sergei Belyak told Interfax.

   Earlier, the prosecution demanded a 14-year term in a high security prison for Limonov and a 12-year jail term, also in a high security jail, for Aksyonov. Prosecution also called for six-year terms in ordinary jails for Nina Silina and Vladimir Pentelyuk, and suspended imprisonment of seven and six years for Dmitry Karyagin and Oleg Laletin, respectively.

   All six are on trial at the Saratov Regional Court.

   Meanwhile, a celebration is planned for Limonov's birthday; he will turn 60 on Saturday, February 22.

   Well known figures will be present at the celebration, which will be held at Moscow's central literary club on February 26.

   Among them are Viktor Yerofeyev and Vladimir Sorokin, both writers, Alexander Prokhanov, a writer, ideologist of the left-wing opposition and editor of the newspaper Zavtra, and Vladimir Linderman, a writer and head of the Riga branch of the National Bolshevik Party who is wanted by the Latvian police.

   A district prosecutor's office in Riga has charged Linderman with attempting to overthrow the government and the illegal possession of explosives.