Together again: The Sklyarov Family comes to California
Since Dmitry can't get to Moscow, his wife and children travel to his side
By Kurt Foss
September 5, 2001
It's been close to two months now since Dmitry Sklyarov last saw his wife Oksana and their two young children, a son of 2.5 years and daughter of five months. As he was set to fly home to Moscow from Las Vegas on July 16, FBI agents circumvented his travel plans -- and arrested him on charges of violating the country's controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). He's been in the U.S. ever since, currently out on bail awaiting trial in northern California and, at least for the time being, is not allowed to return to Russia. [Photo at right previously released.]
So today, the family came to Dmitry -- to lend him moral support as he faces potential imprisonment and/or monetary fine for developing a software product that can be used to remove security permissions from electronic books in Adobe Systems' portable document format (pdf).
According to Russian news reports, Oksana Sklyarov plans to remain in the U.S. until late September -- but she expressed no interest in attending upcoming court hearings. The next court appearance is scheduled for September 24. After that, she hopes the U.S. federal court will allow Dmitry to return home to Russia once the structure is in place for the trial; he would return periodically as requested by the court and his legal team.
The family's travel costs and expenses are being financed by his employer, ElcomSoft Co. Ltd, which also was indicted last week for DMCA violations. Both Sklyarov and ElcomSoft entered not guilty pleas after efforts at reaching a plea agreement apparently stalled out last week.
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