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#14
Obshchaya Gazeta
December 27, 2001 - January 9, 2002
JOURNALISTS TO BE TAUGHT TO LOVE FREEDOM
Primorye law enforcement agencies have found a scapegoat
Author: Valentina Voronova
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]

JOURNALIST GRIGORY PASKO HAS BEEN SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS IN PRISON. BUT THE COURT MANAGED TO PROVE ONLY THAT PASKO HAD INTENDED TO SELL STATE SECRETS TO A JAPANESE SPY. THE MILITARY JUSTICE SYSTEM KEEPS SILENT ABOUT OTHER SCANDALOUS CRIMES THAT HAVE LED TO REAL LOSSES, UNLIKE THE FARFETCHED CASE OF PASKO.

The verdict on the case of journalist Grigory Pasko was recited for an hour and a half. The Military Court of the Pacific Fleet brought in a verdict of guilty of high treason by espionage.

Although the accusers had proposed ten items of the charge, only one of them was viewed as proven. It was proven that at the request of his Japanese counterpart Pasko participated in a secret meeting of the command of the Pacific Fleet, at which results of combat exercises were summed up.

In the opinion of the court, materials that were prepared by Pasko after the meeting and later confiscated by the court contained some information considered the state secret. Although the court came to the conclusion that these materials were not given to the Japanese customer, Pasko was claimed guilty of espionage.

The court concluded that the accusations against Pasko of illegal collection of information about the financial situation of the Pacific Fleet, about utilization of submarines and weapons of the fleet, and the social position of Pacific Fleet officers were unfair.

The court sentenced Pasko to four years of prison of the strict regime. Since during the preliminary investigation Pasko had spent nearly a year and a half in jail, now he will have to spend in prison only two years and a half.

By the decision of the court Pasko was also deprived of the military rank of the "second rank captain in reserve" and all his state rewards.

Pasko's lawyers intend to petition the sentence in the Military Board of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

The results of the case known worldwide do not seem to be too scandalous at first sight.

Preparations for espionage is not yet espionage itself.

Pacific Fleet spies, prosecutors, and the court gave this case a scale that it does not deserve. The fact that he "wanted" something does not necessarily mean that he "could" it, and the word "intended" does not mean the same as "betrayed." It seems that Pacific Fleet counterintelligence agents had been longing for some scandalous disclosure. And when the case of Pasko came along, they decided to make the most of it.

Meanwhile, not very long ago two aircraft carrying cruisers, the Minsk and the Novorossiisk, disappeared from the Pacific Fleet somewhere. People and media tried to ask law enforcement agencies where these cruisers were and who had arranged this operation, but the local Themis keeps silent.

For the past few years arms storages have been exploded for three times in the Primorye Territory. Every time some people died as a result of these explosions, let alone the enormous material losses, but there have not been any press conferences or show trials related to these events. Some newspapers have noted that the command of the Pacific Fleet is involved in housing machinations, but these reports made no sensations either.

From our files:

Tracing spies is the usual job of regional departments of the Federal Security Service (FSB). In 2001, Russian special services disclosed a number of employees of foreign intelligence services in the Russian Far East. Four of them were expelled from Russia, and twelve of them were forbidden to return for five years.

According to the Tomsk regional FSB department, in 2001, 10 employees of foreign intelligence services and 70 foreigners suspected of collaboration with foreign special services visited the Tomsk Region. Eleven of them have been expelled from Russia and three of them have been deprived of the right to visit Russia.

Along with anonymous suspicious foreigners, counterintelligence may also boast of disclosers of some notable figures.

On February 1, John Edward Tobbin, a US citizen, was arrested in Voronezh. The American was detained at the moment when he was buying drugs. Later the accusation of espionage was claimed invalid.

In May, a citizen of China suspected of espionage was arrested in Irkutsk. He had been collecting information about Topol-M and S-400 missile complexes. The court sentenced him to 10 years of prison of the strict regime.

On June 9, the Omsk regional FSB department disclosed Elisabeth Sweet, a 39-year-old instructor of economics. The teacher worked within the Civil Education Project and gave her students a task to collect information about budget-forming enterprises of the Omsk Region.

On October 31, the Moscow Regional Court claimed Russian citizen Viktor Kalyadin guilty of high treason by espionage and sentenced him to 14 years of prison of the strict regime with confiscation of his property. His two accomplices, Pyotr Ivanov and Alexander Ivanov, were claimed guilty of divulgation of a state secret that has led to serious outcomes and sentenced to prison: Alexander to one year and eight months and Pyotr to one year and two months.

Currently, the Krasnoyarsk Territorial Court continues considering the case of physicist Valentin Danilov, Director of the Thermal Physics Center of the Krasnoyarsk State Technical University. FSB has formulated the charge with high treason by espionage according to Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

On December 25, Igor Sutyagin, former director of the Military- Technical Cooperation Sector of the Institute for the US and Canada accused of high treason by espionage, made the final plea in the Kaluga Regional Court. The prosecutor insisted on 14 years for the scholar.

(Translated by Kirill Frolov)

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