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Letter of Appeal from the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility

16 November 1999

Leonid Kuchma
President of the Ukraine
Office of the Ukrainian President
c/o Mr. Evgen Kushnariov
Chief of Ukrainian President Administration
Fax: 380 44 291 5686

Dear Mr. President:

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the largest organization of natural and social scientists in the United States, and the world's largest federation of scientific organizations, with 143,000 individual members and 275 affiliated groups. Our AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility was formed in 1976 to protect the human rights of scientists and to deal with issues relating to scientific freedom worldwide.

On behalf of the Committee, I am writing to express our concern about the arrest of world-renowned marine biologist Dr. Sergey Piontkovski of the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas (IBSS) in Sevastopol on 17 October 1999 by the Ukrainian Intelligence Security Service (SBU). The Committee is deeply troubled by reports indicating that the SBU has initiated an investigation against Dr. Piontkovski, his former wife Galina Piontkovskaya, also a scientist at IBSS, and IBSS deputy director Yuri Tokarev. We have been informed that the specific accusations against the three researchers include shipping sensitive data out of the country and illegally accepting Western currency for research, despite assertions from their collaborators that the data used in the cited projects is not classified. It is our understanding that the latter charge refers simply to grants received for scientific projects from well-established Western organizations.

The Committee is troubled that security agents reportedly raided the homes and offices of the three researchers, confiscating computers, scientific papers, money, and passports, and that the three have been accused of crimes against the State solely on the basis of a number of international collaborations on marine ecology. We fear that if they are convicted they may face up to eight years' imprisonment and heavy fines. We have also learned that Yuri Tokarev has reportedly been accused of passing Soviet-era data to the West.

AAAS has received letters from some of the scientists' Western collaborators who are deeply concerned about the investigation. They have informed us that the data for the projects cited by the SBU were not classified in any way. They are also troubled that the investigation has been extended to scientists at the Marine Hydrophysical Institute in Sevastopol.

We would like to point out that the arrest of Sergey Piontkovski and the investigations against him, Galina Piontkovskaya, and Yuri Tokarev, if based solely on scientific collaborations that they have undertaken with international partners and the fact that they have received grants from funding organizations to undertake such projects, constitute serious interference with international scientific freedom and could seriously jeopardize scientific collaborations.

These actions are also contrary to human rights provisions enumerated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to which the Ukraine is legally bound as a State Party. They include: freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile; the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications, respect of freedom indispensable for scientific research and creative activity; and the encouragement and development of international contacts and co-operation in the scientific and cultural fields.

We urge you to see to it that the investigations against Sergey Piontkovski, Galina Piontkovskaya, and Yuri Tokarev are dropped immediately and unconditionally, and we call on the SBU to return the computers, documents, money, and passports confiscated from the homes and offices of the three scientists so they can continue their work. We also request that you assure that scientific collaborations with international partners will be allowed to proceed.

Thank you for your attention to our concerns.

Sincerely,



Irving Lerch
Chair
AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility

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