(HRW/IFEX) – On 28 November 1997 at the Russian American Press Center a press conference was to be held on the latest developments in the case of Alexander Nikitin, whom the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) accuses of having committed serious anti-state crimes. Scheduled participants in the press conference were: Pavel Gutiontov (Chair of the […]
(HRW/IFEX) – On 28 November 1997 at the Russian American Press
Center a press conference was to be held on the latest
developments in the case of Alexander Nikitin, whom the Russian
Federal Security Service (FSB) accuses of having committed
serious anti-state crimes. Scheduled participants in the press
conference were: Pavel Gutiontov (Chair of the Union of
Journalists), Yury Shmidt (Nikitin’s lawyer), Genri Reznik
(Nikitin’s lawyer), Diederik Lohman (Director of the Moscow
Office of Human Rights Watch/Helsinki). The participation of
Nikitin himself depended on the FSB’s decision on a request for
permission for him to pay a short visit to Moscow. He is
currently restricted to the boundaries of St. Petersburg.
(**Updates IFEX alerts of 17 December and 19 June 1996**)
Eleven months ago, the term of criminal investigation
on the Nikitin case was prolonged by the office of the General
Procurator. Since then, several further prolongations have taken
place. These extensions of the criminal investigation were
accompanied by clear instructions from the General Procurator’s
office as to which further investigative steps the FSB should
undertake to finalize its work on the case. All these
instructions were ignored by the FSB or were treated as a mere
formality. In the course of eleven months, the FSB did not come
up with any new information.
At the same time, the FSB is continuing its attempts to
restrict the rights of Nikitin and citizens of the
Russian Federation to reliable information about ecological
safety connected with nuclear installations.
Background Information
Nikitin, a writer, environmentalist and a former captain of the
Russian navy, was arrested on 6 February 1996 on the accusation
of espionage and leaking state secrets. The FSB had initiated a
criminal investigation in October 1995 after Nikitin had handed
the Norwegian environmental organization Bellona Foundation a
draft report on the dangers of nuclear pollution in Russia caused
by the Russian Northern Fleet.
After the FSB initially refused to allow Nikitin the right to a
lawyer of his own choice, a Constitution Court decision of April
1996 granted Nikitin access to his lawyer. Following domestic
pressure and an international campaign for the release of
Nikitin, the Procurator General’s office decided to release him
on 14 December 1996. (See IFEX alerts)
