Programs: Science and Policy
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AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program
View Alerts By > Case | Date | Country | Victim
AAAS Human Rights Action Network
| Date: | 21 March 2000 |
| Case Number: | ru9602_nik |
| Victim: | Alexander Nikitin |
| Country: | Russia |
| Subject: | Supreme court schedules hearing on Nikitin case |
| Issues: | Academic and scientific freedom; Freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention; Freedom of opinion and expression; Right to liberty and security of the person; Threat of long-term imprisonment or capital punishment |
| Type of alert: | Update |
| Related alerts: | 22 February 1996; 15 May 1996; 30 December 1996; 30 June 1998; 19 February 1999; 6 July 1999; 9 September 1999; 29 December 1999; 17 April 2000; 14 September 2000 |
FACTS OF THE CASE:
The Russian Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing on the case of Aleksandr Nikitin for 29 March 2000, three days after the upcoming Russian presidential election. The Court will decide whether to hear an appeal filed by the state prosecutor after Nikitin's acquittal in St. Petersburg City Court, of charges of treason and divulging state secrets. In his appeal the state prosecutor asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the St. Petersburg City Court's ruling and to send the case back to the lower court to be re-evaluated by another judge.
The 29 December 1999, decision of Judge Sergey Golets of the St. Petersburg City Court to acquit Alexandr Nikitin was hailed internationally as a victory for the rule of law in Russia, with the judicial independence demonstrated by Judge Golets in reaching this decision singled out for special praise.
Aleksandr Nikitin was accused of espionage in 1996, as a result of a report he wrote for the Norwegian Bellona Foundation on the serious environmental risks caused by nuclear waste from the Russian Northern Fleet. The Federal Security Bureau (FSB) , the successor to the KGB, claimed that Nikitin's report contained classified information. Nikitin and the Bellona Foundation have maintained consistently that all the information in the report came from publicly available sources.
The case has become an international cause celebre. Aleksandr Nikitin has received widespread recognition and praise for bringing to public attention the environmental dangers posed by the aging Russian nuclear fleet and for his steadfastness in withstanding the unremitting pressure of the past four years. He has received a number of significant environmental and human rights awards. In 1997, Nikitin received a Goldman Prize, sometimes referred to as a "Nobel Prize" for environmental issues. The AAAS Science and Human Rights Program recognized his courage on behalf of human rights at the 1999 AAAS Annual Meeting, and in February 2000 he received the AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award, for his "outstanding efforts to protect human health and environmental integrity."
Information for this update came from the Bellona Foundation. For more information, consult the Bellona Foundation's website at http://www.bellona.org
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