(9 Aug 2001)
1. Wide shot press conference room at J-F-K International Airport, New York, John "Jack" Tobin and his father and Congressman James Maloney enter room and walk to podium
2. SOUNDBITE: (English): John "Jack" Tobin, American student:
"Hi everybody. It's great to be home. The Congressman said it was something I went through alone, but in reality I never felt alone in there. I could feel the good blessings and the good wishes of a lot of people back here who supported me."
3. Cutaway cameras
4. SOUNDBITE: (English): John "Jack" Tobin, American student:
"I definitely learned a lot about myself throughout this entire process. I think sometimes it takes spending time abroad to really appreciate your own country. It's great to be back in the land of the free, and it's great to be back in a country where basic human rights are respected and the due process of law is also a respected institution. And it's something that we work hard to keep here and it's something that doesn't exist in a lot of countries no matter whether, they may claim to be democratic or to be introducing democratic institutions, but a lot of countries in the world have a long way to go."
5. Wide shot press conference
6. SOUNDBITE: (English): John "Jack" Tobin, American student:
"I think I was most frightened in the very beginning, when I spent some time in the dark, I didn't know what charges were going to be brought against me, I didn't see anybody for a couple of weeks, you know, I didn't see a lawyer, and I didn't see any investigators and I really was just sort of, not knowing."
7. Cutaway photographers
8. Medium shot Tobin declines to answer more questions and leaves press conference room
9. Medium shot Delta Air Lines terminal at airport
10. Wide shot airport with Delta terminal
STORYLINE:
A thin and tired John Tobin, the American student Russia accused of being a spy-in-training, returned on Wednesday to the United States after spending six months in jail on a drug charge.
The 24-year-old Fulbright scholar spoke to reporters at Kennedy International Airport shortly after his return from Moscow.
Tobin, who lost weight in jail and sported a close-cropped prison haircut, answered questions briefly before leaving to meet with family and friends.
His release removed a diplomatic irritant between the United States and Russia.
In June, President Bush raised the case during his summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Tobin thanked the president, along with his family, friends and other supporters.
After his January arrest in Voronezh, where he was studying at the local university, Tobin was initially charged with operating a drug den and obtaining marijuana as part of a criminal gang.
The case gained wide attention after an official of the Federal Security Service, the main successor to the KGB, said the American was believed to be training to be a spy.
Tobin said he spent most of his time in a Russian holding facility, but the last six weeks in a Russian work camp.
Tobin was accompanied by embassy officials, his father, John Tobin Sr., and U.S. Rep. James Maloney, who represents Tobin's home district in Connecticut and had campaigned for his release.
His father has said his son claimed the Russian intelligence service tried to recruit him as an agent and that he believed he was arrested because he had refused.
Tobin, at the airport, denied the drug charge.
Eventually, Tobin was sentenced to 37 months in jail for drug possession.
After a higher court reduced that sentence to one year, he became eligible for parole after doing half that time.
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