(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is greatly troubled by the 20 July 1999 conviction of Russian military journalist Grigory Pasko for providing allegedly classified information to Japanese media about the Pacific Fleet’s hazardous handling of nuclear waste. **Updates IFEX alerts of 20 July, 15 July, 9 June, 4 June, 11 March and 17 February 1999, 14 October, […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is greatly troubled by the 20 July 1999 conviction of
Russian military journalist Grigory Pasko for providing allegedly classified
information to Japanese media about the Pacific Fleet’s hazardous handling
of nuclear waste.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 20 July, 15 July, 9 June, 4 June, 11 March and 17
February
1999, 14 October, 21 May and 11 May 1998**
A closed military tribunal in Vladivostok sentenced the 37-year-old Pasko to
three years in prison under Article 285 of the Russian penal code (abusing
his authority as a naval officer). He was then freed under an amnesty that
the Russian Duma announced earlier this year for prisoners convicted of
so-called less dangerous crimes.
Pasko, a naval captain and military journalist with “Boyevaya Vakhta”, the
Russian fleet’s newspaper, had already spent 20 months in prison charged
under Article 275 of the penal code (high treason and revealing state
secrets), for the same offence, a series of reports on the Russian navy’s
environmental abuses in the Far East that appeared on Japan’s NHK television
channel and in the “Asahi Shimbun” newspaper. His articles were also
published in “Boyevaya Vakhta” after they were cleared by military censors.
The presiding judge rejected the initial charge of espionage against Pasko,
and cited prosecutors from the Federal Security Service (FSB) with
unspecified violations of due process during their investigation. Pasko’s
lawyers say they plan to challenge the guilty verdict in the Supreme Court,
demanding a full acquittal.
Since his arrest on 20 November 1997, Pasko and his defense team have
claimed the case against him was a politically motivated attempt by the
military to silence him for exposing the Pacific Fleet’s illicit disposal of
nuclear waste into the Sea of Japan. They further claim that all the
documents he obtained for his investigation were unclassified and all the
evidence he found was in the public domain. The Soviet-style criminal
investigation conducted by the Pacific Fleet’s FSB unit and the closed
military trial in Vladivostok were shrouded in secrecy and marked by disdain
for the defendant’s civil rights. For example, Pasko’s indictment was
classified a secret, making it difficult for his attorneys to mount a proper
legal defense. His lawyers were threatened with criminal prosecution for
making public statements about his case.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
profession
verdict against
Pasko clearly violates his right “to seek and impart information and ideas
through any media and regardless of frontiers,” as expressed in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
to
an issue of enormous concern, Pasko acted in full compliance with military
procedure, as every document he cited was public and every image he filed
was authorized by his superiors
conviction,
and ensuring that his country’s laws guarding state secrets are no longer
misused by officials to muzzle criticism
Appeals To
His Excellency Boris Yeltsin
President of the Russian Federation
The Kremlin
Moscow, Russia
Fax: +7 095 206 5173 / 206 6277
E-mail: president@gov.ru
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
