Relgious man jailed for smuggling ammunition into Russia, and people are pissed! wtf?

This is my wtf, no brainer for the week...I got this from MyrtleBeachOnline.com....At the bottom you will find my view of this story....

Conway pastor sentenced to prison time in Russia
Lawyer: We will appeal
By PETER LEONARD - Associated Press Writer
Phillip Miles is seen behind bars in a Moscow court on Monday, April 21, 2008. Phillip Miles, from South Carolina, has been in custody since his arrest on Feb. 3. He was arrested several days after customs agents at a Moscow airport found a box of rifle shells in his luggage. The Moscow court on Monday sentenced a U.S. pastor to more than three years in prison for bringing hunting ammunition into Russia. (AP Photo/ Mikhail Metzel)
MIKHAIL METZEL/AP
Phillip Miles is seen behind bars in a Moscow court on Monday, April 21, 2008. Phillip Miles, from South Carolina, has been in custody since his arrest on Feb. 3. He was arrested several days after customs agents at a Moscow airport found a box of rifle shells in his luggage. The Moscow court on Monday sentenced a U.S. pastor to more than three years in prison for bringing hunting ammunition into Russia. (AP Photo/ Mikhail Metzel)

* Gallery Available PHOTOS: Conway pastor on trial in Russia

MOSCOW --
A Moscow court on Monday sentenced a U.S. pastor to more than three years in prison for smuggling hunting ammunition into Russia.

Phillip Miles, from Conway, S.C., has been in custody since his arrest on Feb. 3. He was arrested several days after customs agents at a Moscow airport found a box of 20 rifle shells in his luggage.

The court sentenced him to serve three years and two months in prison, with the sentence calculated from his detention date.

Miles has said he brought the .300 caliber cartridges for a friend who had recently bought a Winchester rifle. He said he did not know bringing such ammunition into Russia was illegal.

Judge Olga Drozdova accepted in her 20-minute summation that Miles had brought the ammunition for a friend, "as they are both inveterate hunters."

The cartridges were not initially found as he flew into Moscow. They were detected a day later as airport security put his luggage through an X-ray machine while he was on his way to check in for a flight to Perm, a city in Siberia.

Miles was dressed in a gray jacket and clerical collar for his sentencing.

"I'm very disappointed. It's a strange sentence for one box of hunting bullets," he said as court bailiffs led him in handcuffs from the courtroom cage, where defendants in Russian criminal courts are held during trial.

His lawyer said the sentence was surprisingly severe.

"I hoped he would only be found guilty of the illegal possession of ammunition," Vladimir Ryakhovsky said.

He said the conviction for smuggling was unfounded as his client had acted without any intent to break the law.

An appeal will be filed within 10 days, he said.

Miles seemed relaxed throughout the judge's summation.

His interpreter struggled to keep up with the judge's delivery and stopped at various points throughout the sentencing. At one point, Miles tapped the interpreter's elbow to remind her to resume.

Miles has admitted bringing in the shells, but said he did not bother to check if Russian laws differed from U.S. laws.

But Drozdova said the court could not condone ignorance of Russian customs regulations and noted Miles had visited the country more than 10 times.

She also stressed repeatedly that information on baggage limitations was available in the airport in both English and Russian.

Ryakhovsky said, however, that leaflets in the airport contained no specific references to a prohibition on taking cartridges onto flights.

"The judge's finding on that front was dishonest," he said.

Miles will remain in a Moscow jail until the appeal.

In my opinion, this religious figure should have known better. Ignorance of the law is NOT an excuse. In a town like Myrtle Beach, SC where people are often ready to string up "outsiders", it's hard to believe that now these very same people are saying the penalties are too harsh for his crime.

What happens in the U.S., is not what always happens else where. Why is it that American's feel as though they should be able to go to another country, violate their laws, and then get off with a slap on the wrist? What if the punishment were a hanging or for him to get his hand chopped off? We as a society would be outraged, but when a person from another country is detained in our prisons and tortured, humiliated, raped, etc we think they are foolish for crying foul.

Let's get our stories straight here people. Either you want a fair and just government for ALL people or you don't. Just because you are an American doesn't give you a right to traipse all over the laws of others. We wouldn't allow that here so why should anyone allow that elsewhere?? The fact of the matter is that this man had many chances to find out what the laws were regarding ammunition, but he never bothered to check. In a world that is high strung about terror, the fact that he even made it onto a plane with such an item is absurd. He had to have hidden it, which means he knew it was wrong. Especially when these days you can't even board a plane with a bottle of water or without taking off your shoes.

In my opinion, he got exactly what he deserved. If this country rushes to his aid I think even I would be offended. He did the crime, he must do the time. Maybe then people will learn laws before landing on someone else's property.