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

20 July 1999

President of the Federation
Boris Yeltsin
Rossiyskaya Federatsiya
g. Moskva
Kreml
Presidentu Rossiyskoy, Federatsii Yeltsinu B.N.
Russia

Dear President Yeltsin:

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, we are writing to express our concern about the recent re-indictment of Alexandr Nikitin, a Russian engineer working for the Norwegian ecological foundation Bellona. The Committee has received reports that he was charged for the eighth time by the Russian Security Police (FSB) with high treason and divulging state secrets for co-authoring a Bellona report about radioactive contamination in Russia's Kola Peninsula. This latest indictment, which was handed down on 2 July 1999, is reportedly based on secret retroactive acts and legislation, the application of which is contrary to Articles 15 and 54 of the Russian Constitution.

On 4 February 1999, the Russian Supreme Court ordered that Alexandr Nikitin's case be returned to the Russian Federal Security Services (FSB) for further investigation. Among the items investigated by the FSB was the monetary damage to Russia's national security brought about by the Bellona report.

Nikitin, who has been under investigation since October 1995, has had his passport confiscated and is not allowed to leave St. Petersburg. The Committee is deeply concerned that he faces continued legal harassment with the threat of long-term imprisonment.

We would like to point out that the recurring arrests of Alexandr Nikitin constitutes a serious violation of internationally accepted human rights standards as promulgated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted without opposition by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948), including freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, and the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Nikitin's recent arrest is also contrary to human rights provisions enumerated in the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Russia is a State Party and which your nation is therefore legally obligated to recognize. The relevant articles of the Covenant include the right to liberty and security, freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, and the right to freedom of expression.

The Committee calls on the Russian government to drop the charges against Alexandr Nikitin, or provide a full and detailed explanation of the charges against him should these charges remain. The Committee also points out that actions taken against those who perform environmental research will only encumber the environmental cleanup of Russia with devastating long-term consequences.


Sincerely,



Irving Lerch
Chair
AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility

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