| Prominent lawmakers and activists appealed to
the Supreme Court chairman Wednesday to reconsider a treason conviction
against Grigory Pasko, a military journalist whose case has angered
international media freedom groups.
The appeal, organized by Yabloko, denounced a ruling last month
by the Supreme Court's military wing that upheld the verdict against
Pasko.
The journalist was sentenced to four years in prison in December
by a military court in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok for
attending a meeting of naval commanders and taking notes while
there. The court said his intent was to pass the notes to Japanese
media, with whom he had worked.
On Wednesday, the lawmakers and activists asked Supreme Court
chairman Vyacheslav Lebedev to protest the military wing's ruling
and consider the case in the court's presidium, its highest body.
Pasko's lawyers have said they would appeal the June ruling to
higher levels at the court. "The ruling of the Military Board
cannot be called the result of objective consideration of Pasko's
case by an independent and unbiased court," the letter reads.
"We are urgently requesting you to protest this ruling and
... on these grounds consider this case at the presidium of the
Supreme Court."
The letter was signed by Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky; the
head of the Union of Right Forces party, Boris Nemtsov; the head
of the media freedom monitoring group Glasnost Defense Fund, Alexei
Simonov; Lev Ponomaryov, head of the All-Russian Movement for
Human Rights; and other prominent figures.
Pasko has called the case retaliation for his reports uncovering
alleged environmental abuses by the navy, such as dumping of radioactive
waste into the Sea of Japan.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has called
Pasko's conviction unjust and embarrassing to Russia, and Western
countries have criticized it as part of an apparent wider crackdown
on media freedom.
See also:
Grigory
Pasko case
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