Subject: [CivilSoc] After the Kursk accident: Nikitin before the Russian Supreme Court again.
From: Bellona (bellona@bellona.no)
Date: Tue Sep 12 2000 - 03:50:11 EDT
After the Kursk accident: Nikitin before the Russian Supreme Court again.
=========================================================================
The hearing of the Niktin case in the Presidium of the Russian Supreme
Court will take place on Wednesday September 13, 2000, starting at 10:00
Moscow time.
For more information:
http://www.bellona.no/imaker?id=15967&sub=1
This happens only weeks after the environmental importance of the
information in the Bellona report was confirmed by the Kursk tragedy.
The submarine, its crew and its two 3rd generation nuclear reactors are
now situated on the ocean floor, while the world is worried about the
environmental impacts of the tragedy.
In the light of the Kursk accident this is a suitable time for a
reminder: Aleksandr Nikitin was charged with espionage for collecting
and transferring to a foreign organisation alleged "secret" information
about accidents on Soviet nuclear submarines. He was also charged with
disclosure of information about the safety systems for nuclear naval
reactors of the 3rd generation.
Bellona has all the time claimed that this information is of
environmental importance and thus can not be subject to secrecy under
the prevailing Russian legislation, while the prosecution has claimed
that the information is of "no environmental relevance".
On December 29, 1999, St. Petersburg City Court acquitted Nikitin of all
charges, a ruling that was confirmed by the Supreme Court's Collegium on
Criminal cases on April 17 this year. The disputed information in the
Bellona report should not be secret. According to the prevailing Russian
legislation it is not.
The Prosecutor General's appeal is an attempt to revise this state of
the law. Thus, the appeal is not only an attack on the independence of
the Russian Courts, but also a call for increased secrecy concerning the
dangers caused by Russian nuclear submarines.
The decision of the Supreme Court Presidium will not only determine the
future of Aleksandr Nikitin. It will also give a strong indication of
whether Russia will join the community of countries ruled by law, or
return to its totalitarian past when the Courts were the extended arm of
the state security agencies and where there were no openness concerning
the matters of the state.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
More information, updates, background etc., see Bellona web
(english and russian): http://www.bellona.no/nikitin/
--------------------------------------------------------------------
This information is mailed to a number of recipients, mostly people
we have been in contact with, or who have requested updates on Nikitin
in addition to media.
If this information is irrelevant to you, we apologize. Send us a
mail, and we will make sure we don't send you emails as this in the
future.
Regards, 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/
_______________________________________________
CivilSoc mailing list
CivilSoc@friends-partners.org
http://fpmail.friends-partners.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/civilsoc
This archive was generated by hypermail 2a22 : Tue Sep 12 2000 - 14:41:50 EDT