Russian author freed on parole

Limonov says he will not abandon his convictions

An ultra-nationalist Russian author has been freed on parole after being imprisoned for arms possession.

Eduard Limonov was released for good behaviour after serving half of his four-year sentence in the southern Saratov region.

Limonov, the leader of the National Bolshevik Party, was convicted in April along with five others but had spent time in custody before the trial.

I want to leave Saratov as quickly as possible, drink some cognac and try a woman

Eduard Limonov

The six men were cleared of more serious charges of attempted terrorism and planning to undermine the state.

Sixty-year-old Limonov was once seen as a dissident writer. He left the Soviet Union in the communist era and published 15 novels and essays.

But after his return to Russia in the early 1990s, he became involved in ultra-nationalist politics and formed his own party.

'Private army'

Limonov said after his parole was announced that he would not abandon his convictions but would try to behave like a good citizen.

"I want to leave Saratov as quickly as possible, drink some cognac and try a woman," he said in an interview for the newspaper Gazeta.

He said he had no plans to continue writing, having in prison written a play and eight books, five of which have been published.

He was arrested in Siberia last year after four party supporters were found to have guns and ammunition.

The writer was accused of attempting to form what amounted to a private army, to invade an area of Kazakhstan where many ethnic Russians live.

But the trial judge in the city of Saratov said the more serious charges had not been proved.

The human rights group Amnesty International says Limonov is a political prisoner.

He has dual Russian and French nationality.