The prosecutor was absent from court.

After declaring Okhotin guilty, he restated the parts of the customs agents' testimonies that he deemed relevant. He cited Okhotin's child as a reason for his doling out a conditional punishment instead of jail time.

Okhotin does not have a child, nor was one mentioned in the trial.

"That's funny, actually," David Okhotin, the defendant’s brother said. "It shows how attentive they are to details--how talented they are at creating their own stories."

Andrew Okhotin also said he saw a man wearing a customs uniform go into Yakovlev's chambers a few hours before the judge appeared to state his verdict.

Okhotin and his brother both expressed shock and disgust with the Russian justice system after the hearing.

"It's in a pathetic state," Okhotin said. "They try to be objective during the trials because of the monitoring. But how is the verdict reached?"

“One branch of the system covers for the other branch instead of fixing its mistakes,” David Okhotin said. “The saga goes on."

Okhotin’s brother said once again that he believes Andrew's Baptist faith in a country dominated by the Russian Orthodox Church motivated the judge to issue a guilty verdict.

"I think everything happened because the money was going to the believers," David Okhotin said.

Andrew Okhotin said he would seek the advice of his family, friends and professors in the coming weeks before deciding whether to renew his Russian visa and stay to appeal the verdict, or return to Cambridge in time for the fall semester.

Those supporters said yesterday they were particularly anxious that if Okhotin stays in Russia for an appeal, it will present a further roadblock to his return to a quiet academic life

at HDS this fall.

"We all hope he can resume a normal life, but this outcome makes it somewhat difficult for him to do that," Little said.

Clark said that Okhotin's mandatory stay in Moscow had been "a huge interruption in his life" that caused "quite a bit of suffering not only for him but his family"--and that she feared a new appeal would prolong that suffering.