| MOSCOW - Prominent Russian lawmakers and activists
appealed Wednesday to Russia's Supreme Court chairman to reconsider
a treason conviction against a military journalist whose case
has angered international media freedom groups.
The appeal, organized by the Yabloko party, denounced a ruling
last month by the Supreme Court's military wing that upheld the
verdict against journalist Grigory Pasko.
Grigory Pasko 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 Russian 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 Russia's 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
| 