NEW YORK: S. Gurpartap Singh Birk acquitted of plotting to kill Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, has been sentenced to seven years for two lesser charges.
U.S. District Judge Charles P. Sift on Friday sentenced Gurpartap Singh Birk to four years for plotting to export guerrilla warfare to India and three years for conspiring to obtain explosives Sifton ordered the terms to run consecutively.
Birk, a computer expert, read a lengthy statement before sentencing in which he summarized the Sikh struggle for independence or autonomy in predominantly Hindu India.
Noting the Indian army’s bloody 1984 attack on the Sikh’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple of Amritsar, and massacres of Sighs following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards, Birk said: “It ‘was nothing short of cold-blooded Murder. I was angry and hurt. This is the basis for my desperation, ardor and stress.”
Birk, a resident alien since 1982, claimed he merely discussed possible actions against the Indian government but never agreed to commit any violent acts. “I did not commit any crime. I only raised my voice,” he said.
Sift on told Birk: “What a tragic ‘moment this is. How much more effective your speech is than your actions. I only wish you and other people would consider how little you’ve accomplished in pursuing your cause by doing what you did.”
Birk’s lawyer, William Kunstler, who had asked Sift on to place Birk on probation, said, “I think it’s a harsh and animalistic sentence. I think he (the judge) was stampeded by the word ‘terrorist. ”brik 35 was convicted March 20 of plotting to organize a military expedition against India i violation of the Neutrality Act which forbids warlike actions against nations with which the United States is at peace.
The jury also found Birk guilt of plotting to obtain explosive illegally, but acquitted him on charges of plotting to assassinate Gandhi during his state visit to the ‘United State last June _ two other Sikhs indicted with Bork remain fugitives.
The prosecution maintained Birk was arrested just before he ‘was to obtain explosives and begin receiving guerrilla training from an FBI agent posing as a mercenary.
Secretly recorded FBI videotapes played during his trial showed Birk discussing guerrilla training, bombings and creating an industrial disaster.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 30, 1986
