Environmental Ethics
and Public Policy
Ernest Partridge, Ph.D
www.igc.org/gadfly


HOME PAGE                             
                                                   
Editorials 
    Philosophy and Religion
    Ethics, Moral Issues, the Law
    The Environment
    Economics
    Education
    Science

On Politics
    The Crisis
    Foreign Relations, War, Peace
    The Media
    The Elections
    Civil Liberties and Dissent
    Republicans & the Right
    Democrats & the Left
    Lies, Propaganda & Corruption
    Culture War & Religious Right
    Coup d'Etat, 2000

Published Papers

Unpublished Papers

Reviews, Lectures, etc.    

Internet Publications

Jottings

Lecture Topics

Conscience of a Progressive
    (A Book in Progress)

A Dim View of Libertarianism

Rawls and the Duty to Posterity
    (Doctoral Dissertation)

The Ecology Project

For Environmental Educators

The Russian Environment

NO MO PO MO
    (Critiques of Post Modernism)

Notes from the Brink
    (Peace Studies)

The Gadfly's Bio Sketch

The Gadfly's Publications

The Online Gadfly: Editorial Policy
 


The Gadfly's E-Mail: gadfly@igc.org


Classical Guitar:
"The Other Profession
"

 

 

"The Archives - II"

The Newsletter of the Socio-Ecological Union

A Center for Coordination and Information

Moscow, Russia


"State Security" and the Environment:

The Cases of Alexander Nikitin and Grigory Pasko.

 

Because of the significance of these cases, we will include here in chronological order, all of the SEU TIMES  reports, to date. (Gadfly).

  


Alexander Nikitin and Grigory Pasko: Two Cases, Same Story

(January, 1999). Working for the environment has become a risky business these days. This is illustrated by two cases driven in Russia by the Federal Security Bureau (former KGB) against environmentalists who are well-known to the international community. The prosecuted individuals are Alexander Nikitin and Grigory Pasko. As you will see, the charges against each are similar. The purpose is also similar: to make people keep their mouths shut while the state machine is doing its dirty business.

Alexander Nikitin - Three Years of a Long Struggle for Justice.

(January, 1999). Alexander Nikitin is an employee of the Bellona Foundation, a Norwegian NGO and an SEU member organization. He is charged with espionage and with the disclosure of state secrets while working for the Bellona Foundation. He was arrested by the FSB on February 6, 1996, after writing two chapters of a Bellona report on the risks of radioactive pollution from Russia's Northern Fleet. Jailed for 10 months following his arrest, Nikitin has since been restricted to the city limits of St. Petersburg. For his environmental work Alexander received 1997 Goldman Environmental Prize and several other awards. For the NGO community the Nikitin case is a never ceasing issue, and activities aimed to free Nikitin will continue until all charges are withdrawn. The SEU is an active member of this campaign, the SEU CCI Press-service continues to send out updates and comments on the case to international, central Russian and regional media. The SEU has issued several statements on the case, the latest of which you will find abridged below.

The Latest Developments:

The Nikitin case was tried in St. Petersburg City Court between October 20 and 29, 1998. The St. Petersburg judge's decision to return the case to further investigation was appealed by both the prosecutor and the defense. Their respective appeals were scheduled to be heard in the Supreme Court on February 4, 1999.

The Supreme Court session in the Nikitin case was held February 4, behind closed doors. The presiding judge, a member of an officially abolished department within the Supreme Court Council for the Criminal Cases, made the decision in fear that state secrets might be released. In reality, there were no legal grounds to have a closed session. The court was not to consider the merits of the case, but rather to evaluate the legality of the October 29 St. Petersburg City Court ruling to send the case back for further investigation.

Citing a lack of evidence produced by the FSB, the Russian Supreme Court rejected motions from both the defense team and the prosecution in the case against Aleksandr Nikitin. The judge sided with an earlier St. Petersburg court ruling and sent the case back for further investigation. Meanwhile, Nikitin remains under virtual house arrest.

Yuri Schmidt, the defense leader, said they received the expected result. "The Judge was not courageous enough to make a final decision." Prompted by reporters, Schmidt said he believes the court's decision was influenced by the FSB. "They will not give this case up, it seems," he said. So far, the FSB has not been able to convince any court that they have sufficient evidence to convict Aleksandr Nikitin, who faces what could be a never-ending effort by the hapless FSB to construct an indictment.

Taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights will be the next step in the Nikitin Process. Lead by Bellona's legal advisor John Gauslaa, the defense team has made preparations for taking the case to that tribunal.

"We should be able to submit the case to the ECHR before the end of March," said Gauslaa, who sees no reason to doubt that the court will decide to deal with the case. "Unless Russia agrees to a settlement, she will be convicted," he said, adding, "then Russia must follow the ECHR's ruling - or lose her membership in the Council of Europe."


A Statement by Environmental NGOs, Members of the Socio-Ecological Union, Regarding the Infringement of the Constitutional Rights of Environmental Activists:

Between October 20 and 29, 1998, the St. Petersburg City Court tried the case of environmentalist Alexander Nikitin, charged with espionage and disclosure of state secrets while writing two chapters of a Bellona report on the risks of radioactive pollution from Russia's Northern Fleet. The St. Petersburg judge found the charges and evidence presented to be inconvenient and decided to return the case for further investigation. Thus the court once again showed the insolvency of the charges that the FSB has been trying for three years to press upon our colleague.

We, of Socio-Ecological Union, declare:

1. The publication of the Bellona Report was of major importance both for Russia and for the international community, drawing attention to the safety problems in Northwest Russia and calling for joint international efforts to solve the problem.

2. The recent trial set an important precedent of an objective case of the publicizing of environmental information, followed by an attempt by federal security entities to treat this as a legal case of a disclosure of state secrets. We approve of the practice of handling such cases in legal and civil way.

The court found that the charges lacked supporting evidence, but did not remove Nikitin's restrictions to within the city limits. This decision violates Nikitin's constitutional rights and freedoms, and sets a precedent for a further violation of the fundamental constitutional rights and for the prosecution of environmental activists. The case of another environmentalist, Grigory Pasko, confirms our concerns.

The military and Minatom have caused irreparable harm to the country's environment and to the health of its population.

Citizens-based legal initiatives in behalf of environment protection contradict the interests of the military and nuclear agencies. The length of the Nikitin and Pasko cases indicate attempts of these agencies to create a system of suppression and prosecution of environmentalists under the cover of the protection of state secrets.

We firmly protest the restraints against Alexander Nikitin, Grigory Pasko, and other environmental activists who have been proven innocent in open and just court trials.

 


NIKITIN ACQUITTED!


Dec. 29, 1999 - After more than four years of persecution, the St. Petersburg City Court showed judicial independence today by ending the case against environmental whistle blower Alexander Nikitin.

The court, presided over by Judge Sergey Golets, acquitted Nikitin of all charges. It is not yet clear whether the prosecution will appeal.

Nikitin was arrested and charged with espionage by the FSBn [Federal Security Bureau], the unrepentant successor to the infamous Soviet-era KGB, for his participation in the Bellona report: "The Russian Northern Fleet: Sources of Radioactive Contamination." Throughout the more than four years of investigation he has maintained that all the information he contributed to the report was publicly available. In addition, he and his international supporters have maintained that it was of paramount importance that the world community know about the dangerous practices of nuclear waste storage by the Russian navy. Moreover, under the Russian Constitution, such information could under no circumstances be classified as secret.

Nikitin became one of the world's most prominent environmental activists, and was honored by a large number of international organizations. Among other honors, in 1997 he received the Goldman Prize for Environmental Heroism, often called the Nobel Prize for the environment.

Nikitin thanks his international supporters, whose indefatigable work on his behalf has kept the spotlight on the case for more than four years.

More and updated info: http://www.bellona.no/

The Bellona Foundation: Fax: +47 22383862 Phone: +47 23234600
Snail mail: BELLONA, Box 2141 Grunerlokka, N-0505 Oslo, Norway
E-mail: bellona bellona.no


The investigation of this man, whom the security services called a spy, has lasted four years. The prosecutor had called for 12 years of imprisonment of Alexander Nikitin.

The FSB had waged a smear campaign against Nikitin through the use of the press and television in order to discredit him before the public.. In particular, state television Channel 5 ran a slanderous series previously prepared and clearly timed to coincide with the court examination. The use of expensively prepared footage, including shots of distant locations and of a large number of people living far from Saint Petersburg, indicates a large amount of money spent on the television series. The film was designed as an attempt to discredit not only the environmental activist, but also those who surround him: his relatives, friends, civil rights supporters, journalists, and the entire environmental movement in Russia in general.


THE FINAL VICTORY OF ALEXANDER NIKITIN

At 12:30 Moscow time April 17, the Supreme Court verdict was announced:: Alexander Nikitin, Goldman prize winner of 1997 won the final victory in the four year nightmarish "espionage case" against him. The Russian Supreme Court confirmed the St. Petersburg City Court acquittal of Aleksandr Nikitin, judging the prosecution's argumentation inconsistent and unacceptable.

Everybody at the Bellona Foundation is extremely happy that this marathon case is now hopefully brought to an end, and we wish to thank everyone who has supported Aleksandr during the years the case has gone on.

Although we can't be sure this verdict guarantees that environmentalists in Russia will be safe from prosecution in the future, it should help a lot. The Russian "security police" ought to be a lot more careful when choosing their targets after this. Today's victory is not only Aleksandr's, but, more to the point, one belonging to the Russian legal system as well.

This is a happy day indeed!

Regards, The Bellona Foundation

For more information:
http://www.bellona.no/nikitin/
Email:<bellona bellona.no>
 


The Case of Grigory Pasko -- A Brief Survey:

(January, 1999). Mr. Pasko, a Commander in Russian Navy, is the correspondent of the newspaper of the Russian Navy in Pacific Ocean "Boyevaya Vakhta"(Vladivostok). The main themes of his articles are the utilization of nuclear submarines and the processing of radioactive waste materials. In spite of violent resistance, all his published articles concerning these issues were approved by the editor-in-chief of "Boyeveya Vakhta. Grigoriy Pasko also worked for the Japanese mass-media newspaper "Asahi" and the TV company NHK.

On November 13, 1997, when Pasko was leaving for business travel to Japan all preparatory materials he had with him were seized at the airport of Vladivostok. And yet he received all these documents legally, and their use and publication are not restricted.

On November 20, 1997, on his way back, Mr. Pasko was arrested at the Vladivostok airport, and since then has been under arrest.

He has been accused of high treason.

The rights of Grigory Pasko have been continuously infringed by the investigating bodies, from the time of the illegal seizure of the papers in the airport until today. Throughout, the investigating bodies have refused all requests for an independent examination of the seized materials, for revising the mode of suppression, for permission of his wife to visits him in prison, and for obeying the legal norms of custody.

The activities of the investigating bodies have involved such violations of the law that the criminal case would be thrown out irrespective of the substance of the accusation. For example, the strict order of search and seizure was infringed, the materials placed in evidence were obtained through illegally overheard telephone conversations, etc. Even so, all these legal violations did not suffice for the investigating bodies to prove their accusation.

The relevant article of the criminal code, "High Treason," stipulates three ways of committing the crime:

1. Espionage.

The prosecution itself declared in public that Mr. Pasko was not an agent, had no network and was not recruited by any secret service.

2. Divulgence of a State Secret.

The investigating bodies found no proof of such divulgence and yet they intend to incriminate Mr. Pasko. According to their experts, the materials seized at the airport and at Mr. Pasko's home, taken as a whole, may contain information which may be considered as state secrets, even though each individual document does not contain secrets. On these grounds, he was charged by the prosecution with "collecting and keeping of information containing State secrets with the intention of divulging it".

3. Other assistance rendered to foreign state, foreign organization or its representatives in hostile activities to the detriment of the security of Russia.

The investigating bodies have no information concerning hostile activities of the newspaper "Asahi" and the TV company NHK to the detriment of the security of Russia. Meanwhile, the representatives of the FSB have repeatedly declared that Mr. Pasko rendered assistance to foreigners for large remunerations. In fact, Mr. Pasko had no business contacts with any foreign institutions except those mentioned above. So, this part of the accusation is not only an attempt to charge Mr. Pasko illegally, but also a hostile attack upon the Japanese news media.

TO: The Public Media, Non-Governmental Organizations, Ecological Unions, Parties and Movements of North America, Europe, and Countries of the Pacific Ocean

Dear Colleagues,

We hope that you will render assistance and support for the defense of journalist Grigory Pasko.

The prosecution of this criminal case is a glaring example of the present situation in Russia.

Recently a dangerous tendency has prevailed in our country: the purposeful and deliberate concealment of information concerning the ecological situation - primarily information concerning the ecological problems developing from the processing of nuclear waste materials.

As confirmation of this fact, Russia did not sign the "Convention of access to information and broad public participation in the process of decision-making and access to justice in issues concerning the environment"(Orhus, Denmark, 25 of July 1998).

Dear colleagues: Your countries have invested a great deal of money to assist Russia's struggle to overcome its present crises.

We understand your desire for political and social stability in one of the biggest nuclear powers, because only such stability can guarantee the security of the whole world against this "nuclear powder keg". However, if the professional freedom of such people as Grigory Pasko were to be restricted (as the Russian secret service intends) you would encounter an illusive semblance of tranquility, founded upon a lack of knowledge about imminent ecological disasters.

Because ecological disasters are not contained within national borders, there should be no limits to the dissemination of ecological information. That is why we hope that you will share our anxiety regarding the case of the journalist Grigory Pasko.

If you fail to draw the attention of your governments to this problem, all investments you make toward the building of a democratic Russia will be reduced to dust, and the world will face a disaster much more terrible than that of Chernobyl.


Grigory Pasko's Human Rights Violated!

(March, 1999). Grigory Pasko is suffering from serious health problems and has been denied relevant medical aid, we have learned from reliable sources. On Thursday, March 11, Pasko had a heart attack before his trial, but was considered "healthy enough" to continue the trial. Shortly before he was examined the by prison doctor who recommended that, due to high blood pressure, Pasko remain seated during his testimony. Apparently this is a result of his fifteen month custody. Despite his health problems, Grigory insists upon testifying personally in the court. This is, he believes, the only way to restore his reputation. But lately the environmentalist can not even get a decent night's sleep, since every hour and a half to two hours he hears a heavy banging on his cell door and a loud voice calling out, "Pasko - are you still there? Are you alone?" To put it plainly, Pasko is being tortured by insomnia.

Currently there is a campaign for Pasko's release from custody, with vouchers signed by Alexey Yablokov (SEU Co-Chair), famous writers Fazil Iskander, Anatoly Pristavkin, Daniil Granin, Academician Dmitry Likhachev, and human rights defenders Sergey Kovalev and Larisa Bogoraz.


For Grigory Pasko --An Unhappy Birthday

(April,/May 1999). On May 19, Grigory Pasko had to celebrate his 37th birthday in a Vladivostok jail. For one year and seven months now this journalist has been kept behind bars, charged by Federal Security Service (FSB) for espionage and treason.

Grigory is not free and the threat of an unfair and secrecy-driven closed military court decision is as close as never before. The decision of the court might be announced by the mid-June.

But one thing has changed : public opinion. It has been changing from the triumphant FSB representatives press-conferences, calling the journalist a spy in advance of both the trial and investigation, with the journalist community fearfully silent. But then came the on-growing public campaign, started by Pasko's attorneys and by environmentalists and greens who remembered well the case of Alexander Nikitin, facing similar charges for similar activity; namely, unveiling the truth about the threats coming from the Russian nuclear fleet.

To not let the FSB-directed spy-show go on under the cover of secrecy, thus making the trial open to public scrutiny -- that was the main request coming from the attorneys, and from environmental and human rights organizations, and journalists. And that was and still is the main threat to the case brought up against the environmental journalist, for that case could never survive an unbiased study.

Nineteen months after Pasko was arrested, the following is clear:

  • none of the charges against Pasko were verified at the closed trial conducted by the Pacific fleet military court

  • all the papers that Pasko used were received legally and officially from officials. None of these officials faced any charges

  • at the time that Pasko used them, none of the documents had secret status or any other limitations such as "for inner use only"

  • all Pasko visits to the military facilities, military corpses, Pacific fleet ships were documented in a proper way and admittances were signed by the Pacific fleet authorized chiefs

  • ALL document materials before publication, such as articles, photographs, and videos, were checked and cleared by the FSB

  • all witnesses questioned at the trial said that they had no evidence spying activity by Pasko

What, then, remains of the case?

Pasko's straightforward articles on the radioactive contamination caused by the Pacific Fleet, on radioactive waste processing and storage, on liquid radioactive waste discharges into the Sea of Japan, on the threats coming from the chemical weapons, on the Pacific Fleet sell-off and corruption, with millions dollars and roubles appropriated for radioactive waste treatment, vanishing.

What else? The career advancement of those FSB officials who so luckily managed to catch the "spy".

And the declining health of Grigory, kept in jail for all these nineteen months. What else happened during that time?

The Public committee in defense of Pasko was established by prominent Russians. Grigory was admitted to be the "prisoner of conscience". More than 5,000 addresses came to the Pacific Fleet Military court supporting free journalism, and demanding justice and freedom. On his birthday, 125 Vladivostok journalists filed a petition demanding the release of Grigory, only to be refused once again.

The Court is stuck. Every court session proves Pasko's innocence. But the court lacks the courage to admit officially that no crime was committed, which would thus set the precedent of ruining a case set up by KGB-FSB. That would be the first time that they ever lost a case - a case against freedom.

More information: http://www.polit.ru/index-dossier


Grigory Pasko Is Released from Custody!

The Judge Has Officially Quashed the Espionage Charge Against Pasko.

 

(July 20, 1999) For the first time in Russian history, a Federal Security Bureau espionage case has failed. According to the Russian Pacific Military Court, Pasko has been cleared of the charge of espionage, but is guilty of "misapplying his position." The court has ruled that he should be given amnesty. The judge has also issued a special document listing all the offenses against the law by the FSB's investigating bodies discovered during the process.

The Vladivostok Military court received more than 23 thousand of letters of support for Grigoriy Pasko from all over the world. We express our gratitude to everyone who contributed to the case by sending protests, covering events, distributing the information. This is our common victory!

Mr. Pasko, a commander in the Russian Navy and a correspondent for the Russian Pacific Fleet newspaper, "Boyevaya Vakhta"(Vladivostok), was held in custody for twenty months. Pasko was arrested in November 20, 1997 on his way back from Japan. He was accused of high treason.

The main themes of his articles were the utilization of nuclear submarines and the processing of radioactive waste materials. In spite of violent resistance, all his published articles concerning these issues were approved by the editor-in-chief. Grigoriy Pasko also worked for the Japanese mass-media newspaper "Asahi" and the television company NHK.

Pasko and his defenders are going to continue fighting the case. We will keep you informed.

Your messages of congratulation will be welcomed in Vladivostok at <akub2@fastmail.vladivostok.ru>


Grigory Pasko Free At Last

(January, 2003).  Military journalist and environmental whistleblower Grigory Pasko - who has for five years fought to clear his name of espionage charges - was finally set free today at a parole hearing in Ussuriysk, Far Eastern Russia. His freedom brings to a close a campaign of harassment by the Federal Security Service that saw him branded as a traitor for his reporting on the Russian Pacific Fleet and its irresponsible handling of its nuclear waste.

It also signals a larger victory over Moscow's ongoing cloak and dagger spy-hunt against environmental activists and whistleblowers, as well as dealing a blow to the ever-tightening grip of Vladimir Putin's Kremlin on the free press.

"We defeated them all," said Pasko's Lawyer, Ivan Pavlov, in a telephone interview after the four-hour hearing in Ussuriysk. Pavlov is the director of the Bellona ecological and human rights centre in St Petersburg.

"They were all working against us - the prison administration, the prosecution, special services - but we won," he said elatedly.

The victory is also a personal vindication for Pasko, who has maintained his innocence through two military trials, and who even rejected offers of pardon offered to him by Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov on the basis that an innocent man cannot be amnestied. The four-year sentence in a hard labour prison camp that was handed down by a military court in December 2001 brought him the support of international environmental and human rights groups and he was named the third Russian prisoner of conscience - after Andrei Sakharov and Bellona's Alexander Nikitin - by Amnesty International.

Speaking by telephone to Bellona Web after leaving the prison colony, Pasko was delighted simply to be going home.

"My plans for tonight are to see my children, who I haven't seen for such a long time," he said, sounding relaxed and confident. Later in the week, he said, he will fly to Moscow and greet his wife, Galina Morozova, who will be flying in from Germany.

He also said that he had received over 500 letters from supporters while in prison.

"I want to tell them how important it was to have that support and know people were thinking about me. This is a common victory for us all," he said.
Pavlov ascribed today's victory to the fact that the parole hearing was held in the Ussuriysk city court - a civilian court "which was able to see the truth," said Pavlov, as opposed to the military courts which have twice convicted Pasko, and subsequently dismissed his appeals.

"It's the first time a court - which was a civil court - has agreed with all the arguments of the defence. Before this, the case had only been looked at by military courts," said Pavlov.

Indeed, today's parole hearing looked like it would shape up as another FSB puppet show orchestrated with pressure from the security services and the military - both of which have been concerned with saving face and keeping the lid on the navy's nuclear dangers screwed tightly shut.

In recent days, Yury Kalinin, who presides over Russia's corrections department - known by the Russian acronym GUIN - said publicly that he didn't expect Pasko to be released. In the days leading up to the trial, the prison administration seemed to be deliberately dragging its feet in submitting
necessary documentation to the court that heard Pasko's parole case.

Then, yesterday, the prison sent a statement to the court with a recommendation against Pasko's release. In it, they cited Pasko's unwillingness to participate in amateur group talent shows with other inmates, his refusal to write for Road to Freedom, the GUIN newspaper, and unflattering comments he made about the prison administration in a recent letter to his wife, as reasons to deny him parole.

In court, said Pavlov, the prosecutor argued against freeing Pasko because he would not confess his guilt.

What Pasko did say at the hearing, according to Pavlov, was simply that the time had come to release him, and that the charges against him were unfounded and illegal.

The foundation of Pasko's conviction was a set of notes he made while attending a meeting of naval brass while working as a reporter for the Pacific Fleet newspaper, Boyevaya Vakhta. In December 2001, the Pacific Fleet Court in Vladivostok acquitted Pasko of charges that he had passed the notes - which allegedly concerned "secret naval manoeuvres" - to the Japanese media, but convicted him for allegedly intending to pass the notes on.

In 1999, the same court had acquitted Pasko of treason, but convicted him of abuse of his official authority for his supposedly negligent contacts with the Japanese media, which included passing Japanese television a videotape made in 1993 that showed Pacific Fleet ships illegally dumping nuclear waste in the Sea of Japan. Pasko was immediately amnestied, but he appealed the conviction to the Supreme Court.

The unexpected result of that appeal was new trial and a conviction in December 2001 on the same charges of treason that Pasko had earlier been acquitted for. His attorneys, Bellona and rights groups throughout the world maintained that these charges were fabricated by the FSB and relied
heavily on two now-defunct secret Defence Ministry decrees - Nos. 010 and 055.

For now, Pasko is set on extracting total exoneration. Pavlov said that in coming days he will submit a supervisory appeal to the chairman of the Russian Supreme Court, Vyacheslav Lebedev. On Dec. 24, Nikolai Petukhov, the chairman of the Supreme Court's Military Collegium, refused to take the appeal. If Lebedev agrees to take the appeal, it could lead to a reversal of the verdict that imprisoned Pasko, and legally clear his name.

Pasko also has an appeal before the European Union Court of Human Rights to address prosecutors violations of the Human Rights convention. Among those rights spelled out by the convention that were violated in the Pasko case are the right to determination of criminal charges within a reasonable time; the right to a fair trial; defences against being tried retroactively and under too extensive an interpretation of existing legislation; and the right to freedom of expression.

Alexander Nikitin - who himself spent five years battling similar charges of treason for blowing the whistle on the Northern Fleet's handling of its nuclear waste - was elated at the news of Pasko's release.

"This is the second time in my life that I have experienced such a feeling. The first time is when all of this happened with me and the second is when I called Vladivostok and found out that Pasko had been freed," Nikitin said in a telephone interview from Moscow.

"It's a feeling that's hard to explain - it's a relief that comes after so much pressure and then, all at once, the pressure is over - it's just wonderful, everything that's happened is wonderful."

Grigory Pasko is editor-in-chief of Bellona's Russian language magazine Ecology and Rights. He will now move to European Russia and continue his work on this project in a full-time capacity.

_________________________________________________________

The Ussuriysk Municipal Court decided today to release journalist Grigory Pasko on parole. Thus, the saga of the environmental whistleblower has taken a new and sensational turn.

Jon Gauslaa, 2003-01-23 09:51

The Court decision was announced this morning around 05.00 GMT. Currently Pasko and his defence team are taking care of various paper work at the labour camp in Ussyryisk where Pasko was sent to serve his four year conviction.  Pasko will, however, walk out of the camp as a free man very shortly.

A great day for justice

Pasko's release came unexpectedly. Less than a month ago, Yury Kalinin, head of Russia's State Corrections Department (GUIN), told Alexei Siminov of the Glasnost Foundation that Pasko's prospects for an early release were zero, since he had not admitted any guilt.


*****

Grigory Pasko who worked as an investigative reporter for the newspaper of the Russian Pacific Fleet was arrested on November 20, 1997 and charged with treason through espionage. He was acquitted of these charges by the Pacific Fleet Court in Vladivostok on July 20, 1999, but sentenced to a three-year imprisonment for 'abuse of his official position' although he was not charged with that crime, and released on a general amnesty.

After both sides had appealed, the Supreme Court cancelled the verdict in November 2000 and sent the case back for a new trial at the Pacific Fleet Court. The re-trial started on July 11, 2001 and ended on December 25, with Pasko being convicted to four years. The verdict was again appealed by both sides. On June 25, 2002 the Military Supreme Court confirmed Pasko's four-year sentence. Pasko was transferred to a labour camp in the Russian Far East on September 10, 2002. His release was originally scheduled for April 25, 2004.

 

 


Dr. Ernest Partridge is a consultant, writer and lecturer in the field of Environmental Ethics and Public Policy. He has taught Philosophy at the University of California, and in Utah, Colorado and Wisconsin. He publishes the website, "The Online Gadfly" (www.igc.org/gadfly) and co-edits the progressive website, "The Crisis Papers" (www.crisispapers.org).  Dr. Partridge can be contacted at: gadfly@igc.org .