AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

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FACTS OF THE CASE:

On 25 September 2003, the Moscow City Court began hearings on the second trial of Dr. Igor Sutyagin. Dr. Sutyagin faces charges of treason and espionage connected to a research project he conducted for a British consulting firm in the late 1990s. The hearings were delayed a week from the original start date after the defense lawyers requested more time. The prosecutors agreed that Dr. Sutyagin had been limited in his ability to read the indictment. He was not allowed to take notes of any kind or keep the document with him. Until a week ago, Dr. Sutyagin’s defense had no access to the text of the indictment.

Dr. Sutyagin was first arrested in October 1999 and his case was heard in the Kaluga Regional Court in 2001. The closed door trial ended with a ruling that the prosecution had failed to present sufficient evidence to convict Dr. Sutyagin. Instead of dismissing the case at that point, the court sent it back for further investigation. His lawyers appealed the imposition of a second investigation to the Russian Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decisions both to proceed with a second investigation and to keep Dr. Sutyagin in detention pending the second trial. The practice of sending cases back for further investigation after the prosecution fails to provide sufficient evidence during a trial is no longer allowed under the Russian criminal code. The provision ending this practice was incorporated into law in July 2002, but does not apply to the Sutyagin case as the investigation and trial began before the new criminal code took effect.

The Federal Security Service (known by its Russian acronym FSB) have failed to present evidence to link his research to treason. Dr. Sutyagin’s research dealt with civilian-military relations in Russian and was based on non-classified sources, such as newspaper articles and publicly available government documents. As a civilian researcher with no security clearances, he did not have access to any classified materials. The FSB contend that the accuracy of the research indicates that Dr. Sutyagin had to have used classified documents to draw his conclusions. The investigation, which has dragged on for four years, has included numerous FSB investigations of his office and home, but has failed to turn up any evidence that Dr. Sutyagin had access to classified materials.

In June 2002, the case and the investigation were transferred from the regional court to Moscow. Dr. Sutyagin’s lawyers expressed concern with the decision for the transfer because Moscow courts have rendered guilty verdicts in similar so-called “spy trials,” in which the government is alleging treason and the security service have failed to provide compelling evidence.

There is great concern that Dr. Igor Sutyagin is being prosecuted for the peaceful exercise of his freedom of expression and academic freedom, which is in violation of several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted without opposition by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the Russian Federation is a state party).

(Source of information for this case include: The Washington Post and http://www.case52.org, a website about Igor Sutyagin’s case.)

RELEVANT HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

• Article 19(1): Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send faxes, letters, or emails:

• Expressing concern at the continued lack of evidence to support the charges of treason and espionage against Dr. Igor Sutyagin and the continued prosecution of Dr. Sutyagin for conducting what appears to be legitimate academic research;
• Requesting that Dr. Sutyagin be released from pretrial detention pending the trial as he has already spent four years in detention and his health has suffered greatly; and
• Reminding the government that prosecuting an individual solely for the peaceful exercise of his or her right to freedom of expression is in direct violation of several human rights standards that the Russian Federation is obligated under international law to uphold, and that freedom of expression is central to the scientific mission.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
President of Russia
The Kremlin
Moscow
Russia
Fax: 011 7 (095) 206 5173 or 011 7 (095) 206 6277
president@gov.ru
Salutation: Dear Mr. President

COPIES SENT TO:

Yuri V. Ushakov
Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States
Embassy of the Russian Federation to the United States
2650 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Fax: (202) 298-5735
Salutation: Dear Mr. Ambassador:

Please send copies of your appeals, and any responses you may receive, or direct any questions you may have to Victoria Baxter, AAAS Science and Human Rights Program, 1200 New York Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20005; tel. 202-326-6797; email vbaxter@aaas.org; or fax 202-289-4950.

The keys to effective appeals are to be courteous and respectful, accurate and precise, impartial in approach, and as specific as possible regarding the alleged violation and the international human rights standards and instruments that apply to the situation. Reference to your scientific organization and professional affiliation is always helpful.

To ensure that appeals are current and credible, please do not continue to write appeals on this case after 90 days from the date of the posting unless an update has been issued.

To verify the contents of this alert and/or the electronic signature, please download the signed file for this alert along with the Program's PGP Public Key.

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