Russian Secret Police never give up - Nikitin faces new trials -- again. ======================================================================== Details: http://www.bellona.no/nikitin/ Nikitin case goes to Supreme Court Nikitin not informed about hearing date July 19, 2000 -- After being rebuffed four times by various Russian courts, the Prosecutor General's office is trying again to convict internationally renown environmentalist Aleksandr Nikitin. In a surprise appeal received by Nikitin today, the Prosecutor General's office (Attorney General) requests that the case be re-investigated, after more than four years of investigations, harassment and legal proceedings. The prosecutors revisited Soviet-era laws to resuscitate this case. Nikitin had been acquitted by the St. Petersburg City Court on December 29, 1999, and the verdict was confirmed on appeal on the April 17 this year by a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court. The City Court had previously criticized the investigators -- Russia's secret police and KGB successor FSB -- for shoddy work and rejected the indictment in October 1998. This verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court in February of 1999. The verdicts in favor of the former submarine captain has been historical, as it vindicates his work of mapping the dramatic nuclear situation in North West Russia for the Bellona Foundation, against the treason charges of the state security apparatus. The case started in October of 1995, when Bellona's office and Nikitin's apartment were ransacked. On February 6, 1996, the secret police stormed in early in the morning and arrested Nikitin, who had to spent the next 10 month in an FSB prison in St. Petersburg. Subsequently, the case was sent back and forth between courts and the FSB for further investigations eight times. Six court hearings, including two for procedural matters at the Constitutional and City Court level and the four mentioned above, dealt with the case. The Supreme Court panel's verdict is a landmark step forward for the Russian legal system, as it evaluated the law rather than rubber-stamping the charges of the secret police. The Supreme Court also rejected the use of secret decrees and laws enacted after the alleged criminal activities had occurred. Niktin's passport was returned to him only one month ago, after the Supreme Court verdict upholding his acquittal. He arrived in the United States last week to receive his Goldman award, often called the Nobel Prize for the Environment, awarded to him in 1997, when he was not allowed to travel to the ceremony. This week, Nikitin will meet with a number of Members of Congress, State Department and Clinton Administration officials. He learned about the appeal during a Wednesday meeting in Washington with Amnesty International, Sierra Club and the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. The Prosecutor General's appeal will be heard August 2, 2000. He claims the case should be sent back for further investigation. If approved, Nikitin will face many more rounds in court in this Kafkaesque process. Contact: Jon Gauslaa, mobile phone: +47-926-19 244 More information, updates, background etc., see Bellona web (english and russian): http://www.bellona.no/nikitin/ Please dissiminate this information further and/or make a link to the above URL, thank you. -------------------------------------------------------------------- This information is mailed to a number of recipients, mostly people we have been in contact with, or who have requested updates on Nikitin in addition to media. If this information is irrelevant to you, we apologize. Send us a mail, and we will make sure we don't send you emails as this in the future. Regards, The Bellona Foundation ---------------------------------------------------------------- Fax: +47 22383862 Phone: +47 23234600 Snail mail: BELLONA, Box 2141 Grunerlokka, N-0505 Oslo, Norway Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW: http://www.bellona.no/ _______________________________________________ CivilSoc mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://fpmail.friends-partners.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/civilsoc -- ------------- * ENWL (English) * -------- Ecological North West Line * St. Petersburg, Russia E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------------------- Russian Secret Police never give up - Nikitin faces new trials -- again. ======================================================================== Details: http://www.bellona.no/nikitin/ Nikitin case goes to Supreme Court Nikitin not informed about hearing date July 19, 2000 -- After being rebuffed four times by various Russian courts, the Prosecutor General's office is trying again to convict internationally renown environmentalist Aleksandr Nikitin. In a surprise appeal received by Nikitin today, the Prosecutor General's office (Attorney General) requests that the case be re-investigated, after more than four years of investigations, harassment and legal proceedings. The prosecutors revisited Soviet-era laws to resuscitate this case. Nikitin had been acquitted by the St. Petersburg City Court on December 29, 1999, and the verdict was confirmed on appeal on the April 17 this year by a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court. The City Court had previously criticized the investigators -- Russia's secret police and KGB successor FSB -- for shoddy work and rejected the indictment in October 1998. This verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court in February of 1999. The verdicts in favor of the former submarine captain has been historical, as it vindicates his work of mapping the dramatic nuclear situation in North West Russia for the Bellona Foundation, against the treason charges of the state security apparatus. The case started in October of 1995, when Bellona's office and Nikitin's apartment were ransacked. On February 6, 1996, the secret police stormed in early in the morning and arrested Nikitin, who had to spent the next 10 month in an FSB prison in St. Petersburg. Subsequently, the case was sent back and forth between courts and the FSB for further investigations eight times. Six court hearings, including two for procedural matters at the Constitutional and City Court level and the four mentioned above, dealt with the case. The Supreme Court panel's verdict is a landmark step forward for the Russian legal system, as it evaluated the law rather than rubber-stamping the charges of the secret police. The Supreme Court also rejected the use of secret decrees and laws enacted after the alleged criminal activities had occurred. Niktin's passport was returned to him only one month ago, after the Supreme Court verdict upholding his acquittal. He arrived in the United States last week to receive his Goldman award, often called the Nobel Prize for the Environment, awarded to him in 1997, when he was not allowed to travel to the ceremony. This week, Nikitin will meet with a number of Members of Congress, State Department and Clinton Administration officials. He learned about the appeal during a Wednesday meeting in Washington with Amnesty International, Sierra Club and the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. The Prosecutor General's appeal will be heard August 2, 2000. He claims the case should be sent back for further investigation. If approved, Nikitin will face many more rounds in court in this Kafkaesque process. Contact: Jon Gauslaa, mobile phone: +47-926-19 244 More information, updates, background etc., see Bellona web (english and russian): http://www.bellona.no/nikitin/ Please dissiminate this information further and/or make a link to the above URL, thank you. -------------------------------------------------------------------- This information is mailed to a number of recipients, mostly people we have been in contact with, or who have requested updates on Nikitin in addition to media. If this information is irrelevant to you, we apologize. Send us a mail, and we will make sure we don't send you emails as this in the future. Regards, The Bellona Foundation ---------------------------------------------------------------- Fax: +47 22383862 Phone: +47 23234600 Snail mail: BELLONA, Box 2141 Grunerlokka, N-0505 Oslo, Norway Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW: http://www.bellona.no/ _______________________________________________ CivilSoc mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://fpmail.friends-partners.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/civilsoc -- ------------- * ENWL (English) * -------- Ecological North West Line * St. Petersburg, Russia E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------------------- __________ EcoNews Service - Alternative News: Ecology, Consciousness & Universe Politics mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] USA http://www.ecologynews.com/index2.html CZECH http://mujweb.cz/www/ecologynews/ UK http://members.tripod.co.uk/ecologynews/ Canada http://www.ecologynews.com/index2.html <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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