Trial of defence journalist Grigori Pasko continues

Published: 5/26/1999

Mr Grigori Pasko, the Russian Navy Captain, currently on trial in Vladivostok on espionage charges. (Concise Aerospace February 1999) finished his testimony in late April 1999. Afterwards, his lawyer, Mr Anatoly Pyshkin, talked to the press about the trial. In an Interfax report, Mr Pyshkin stated that Mr Pasko was disliked and harassed, by both Russian Pacific Fleet and Federal Security Service (FSB) personnel, because he refused to “collaborate" with the security officials and had published critical articles on the fleet"s command. Mr Pasko is charged with treason in handing over state secrets to a Japanese television company and newspaper. He has claimed that he is being hounded, owing to his uncovering of fraud and misdeeds by the Pacific Fleet and his documenting of hazardous environmental practices. Mr Pasko states that all of his information came from unclassified sources: the charges against him are still classified top secret by the Russian prosecutors. His countercharges were a vitriolic attack on FSB investigators. Mr Pasko reiterated that he has been illegally detained for over a year and half, on charges that he claims are “fabricated" by the FSB, working in support of the Pacific Fleet. Japanese media companies were reluctant to get involved in the trial, and maintained a hands-off approach to the whole affair. This may explain another Interfax report that states Mr Pasko discontinued his own lawsuit against NHK, the Japanese broadcasting company. Mr Pasko, somewhat ironically, had turned to a Russian court in order to protect his copyright of a film on the Pacific Fleet dumping radioactive pollution. Speaking again through his lawyer, he alleged that the Russian and Japanese journalists involved were being used as “pawns" by Russian security officials. He added that he considered it “improper" for journalists to “settle their disputes through court action." Whether the Russian legal system upholds the rule of law in the Pasko case, and that of fellow Russian naval officer, Mr Aleksandr Nikitin, remains to be seen.

Article ID: 536