Subject: Nikitin trial: State TV Smears Bellona Foundation
From: Bellona (bellona@bellona.no)
Date: Thu Dec 09 1999 - 14:00:40 EST
"What happened to the free press?"
----------------------------------
The Nikitin defence team held a press conference in St. Petersburg
today, outraged by the TV series inspired by the Russian Security
Police, or FSB, and aimed at scandalising the Bellona Foundation and
Nikitin.
Petersburg TV, a local TV channel, is running a mini-series called
"Tracing Bellona." Produced in the form of a documentary, the program
presents pure FSB propaganda that attempts to convince the audience
that Bellona is a cover for Western intelligence services and
Aleksandr Nikitin is a spy.
TV Petersburg is a governmental channel, tightly linked with the FSB.
The program on Bellona had been prepared in advance and specially
timed for the trial. Costly program shots were made in various parts
of Russia from Murmansk in the north to Yakutsk in eastern Siberia.
"There is no doubt, that the organisers of the slander campaign are
aiming further than just creating negative public opinion about the
accused and his work on the report of the environmental organization
Bellona," Yury Schmidt, Nikitin's lawyer, said at the press
conference.
"The intention to put flagrant pressure on the court is absolutely
obvious. It is an attempt to save the prosecution, which has proved
its complete insolvency," Schmidt thundered from the podium.
Several of the witnesses appearing during the trial also featured in
the TV programs. "No doubt that the authors of the program aim to put
psychological pressure on the witnesses who have not appeared in the
court yet," said Schmidt.
The director of the St. Petersburg Russian Pen Club, Sergey Svetkov,
was also present at the podium. "What happened to the free press?" he
asked. "We seem about to lose the last remains of perestroika."
Last week, the Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, met with the
Russian Pen Club. Asked particularly about the Nikitin case, Putin
did not give a direct answer, but did make an interesting comment:
"We still have old laws and decrees."
On Friday, December 10, the court will take a break to resume the
session on Monday next week.
Contact: +7 812 272 98 69 (St. Petersburg)
+7 812 272 52 91 (St. Petersburg)
+47 23 23 46 00 (Oslo).
Background on the Nikitin Case
------------------------------
Aleksandr Nikitin is charged with high treason and divulging of state
secrets co-authoring the Bellona Report about nuclear hazards related
to the Russian Northern Fleet. Nikitin was arrested on February 6,
1996, and released 10 months later to be under city arrest in St.
Petersburg. The first trial in October 1998 sent the case to the FSB
for further investigation due to the lack of proper evidence.
The Bellona Foundation
Fax: +47 22383862 Phone: +47 23234600
Snail mail: BELLONA, Box 2141 Grunerlokka, N-0505 Oslo, Norway
Email: bellona@bellona.no WWW: http://www.bellona.no/
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