AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

FACTS OF THE CASE:

AAAS is deeply concerned about the arrest of Russian engineer and former marine officer, Alexander Nikitin. Nikitin, who is accused of high treason is in danger of long-term imprisonment or capital punishment. He has been arrested in connection with his work for the Norwegian Ecological Foundation Bellona, which is currently under investigation by the FSB (formerly KGB) on charges of divulging state secrets. Nikitin was working on a report about nuclear safety within plants and submarines belonging to the Russian Northern Fleet on the Kola Peninsular. In November 1995, Nikitin was deprived of his passport and summoned as a witness in a criminal case against the activities of Bellona. He and his family had intended to immigrate to Canada and had already received permission from Canadian authorities. On 6 February 1996, Nikitin was taken into custody at his home in St. Petersburg after being told that he was to be interrogated as a witness in a case against Bellona. He was then placed in detention at the old KGB headquarters. He is currently held in isolation and is being denied access to his lawyer.

Nikitin has been charged under paragraph 64 of the Russian Criminal Law, which states that "an action made by a citizen of the Soviet Union which entails a threat against independence, the laws of the country or state secrets and the ability of the country to defend itself, siding with the enemy intentions to overthrow the government. Persons found guilty [of} these actions are sentenced for 10 to 15 years or to the death penalty. The properties of the person [are] confiscated."

The Foundation, which has had a permanent office in Murmansk since March 1994, has been working on environmental issues concerning the storage of nuclear waste. It is credited with disclosing the catastrophic conditions in many of the nuclear facilities in the area. The foundation had been working freely in Russia until October 1995 when FSB agents carried out a raid at its Murmansk office confiscating papers and computers and taking several employees and contacts in for interrogation. FSB representatives later announced on the evening news that Bellona was helping western intelligence services and that western environmentalists in general were using environmentalism as a cover for espionage.

In November, Bellona held a press conference to announce a report which detailed the perilous situation in the Northern Fleet's main nuclear waste dump at Andreyev Bay, on the Kola Peninsula, 45 kilometers from the Norwegian border, and which has already been the site of one serious accident. Representatives of Bellona have stated that all of its information is collected through official channels in the Northern Fleet and the Russian media and that Nikitin was not involved in collecting secret information. He merely verified information that was obtained from published articles in the Russian Press.

The imprisonment of Alexander Nikitin is in violation of Article 42 of the Russian Constitution, which prohibits secrecy in matters that may constitute hazards towards the environment or the health of human beings. In addition, it is contrary to human rights provisions enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which the Russian Federation is a state party. They include:

United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:

• Everyone has the right to liberty and security of the person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention...(Article 9)
• Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers...(Article 19)
• ...the right to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defense and to communicate with counsel of his own choosing (Article 14, 3(b))

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

• No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile. (Article 9)
• Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his own country. (Article 13,2)
• Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression...(Article 19)

(Sources of information on this case are the Moscow Human Rights Research Center, and The Bellona Foundation, Web site: http:www.grida.no/ngo/bellona/nikitin.htm)

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send telexes, telegrams, faxes, or airmail letters:

• requesting the immediate and unconditional release of Alexander Nikitin on the grounds that he was arrested solely for the legitimate environmental work that he was conducting for Bellona;
• demanding immediate access to legal representation of his choosing, if he is not released from prison;
• calling on the Russian authorities to provide a full and detailed explanation of the charges against Nikitin; and
• indicating that actions against environmental research can only make the environmental clean-up of Russia more difficult.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

Mikhail Barsukov
Director General of the Russian Federal Security S
Rossiyskaya Federatsiya
g. Moskva
Federalnaya Sluzhba bezopasnosti
Rossiyskoy Federatsii
Generalnomu direktoru Barsukovu M.
RUSSIA
Salutation: Dear Director General

Col.-Gen. Anatoly Kulikov
Russian Federation Minister of Internal Affairs
Rossiyskaya Federatsiya
117049 g. Moskva
ul. Zhitnaya, 16
Minsterstvo vnutrennikh del
Rossiyskoy Federatsii
Ministru Gen.-polk. Kulikovu A.
RUSSIA
fax: 011 (7095) 230-25-80
Salutation: Dear Minister

Yuriy Skuratov
Procurator General of the Russian Federation
Rossiyskaya Federatsiya
103793 g. Moskva K-31
ul. Dimitrovka, 15a
Prokuratura Rossiyskoy Federatsii
Generalnogo prokurora Skuratovu Yu.
RUSSIA
fax: 011-7095) 925-1879; 011 (7095) 292-88-48
Salutation: Dear Procurator General

COPIES SENT TO:

Boris Yeltsin
President of the Russian Federation
Rossiyskaya Federatsiya
g. Moskva
Kreml
Presidentu Rossiyskoy Federatsii Yeltsinu B.N.
RUSSIA
Fax: 011 (7095) 206-5173


Evgeny Primakov
Russian Federation Minister of Foreign Affairs
Rossiyskaya Federatsiya
121200 g. Moskva
Smolenskaya-Sennaya pl., 32/34
Ministerstov inostrannykh del
Rossiyskoy Federatsii
Ministru Primakovu Ye.
RUSSIA
Fax: 011 (7095) 230-21-30


Ambassador Yuli M. Vorontsov
Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20007


Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering
Embassy of the United States of America
APO/AE 09721
Fax: 011 (7095) 4261/4270

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