| PARIS, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Imprisoned Russian
journalist Grigory Pasko was
named by French media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
on Tuesday as
the winner of its 11th annual Fondation de France prize.
Pasko was charged with high treason in December 2001 for having
helped
Japanese journalists report on the Russian navy's dumping of toxic
waste and
sentenced to four years in a high security jail in a case condemned
internationally.
Calling Pasko's incarceration a wake-up call for journalists,
RSF presented
the prize to Pasko's wife in Paris, on the anniversary of the
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
"The nuclear pollution caused by the Russian military fleet
in the Sea of
Japan is far too critical a matter for Moscow to give the media
any
opportunity to investigate it further," the watchdog said
in a statement.
"Their priority seems to be to muzzle the press, rather
than to deal with
the
ecological impact on Russia's worried neighbouring countries,"
it continued.
Pasko, who lost an appeal in June, had worked with Japanese television
and
newspapers gathering information for reports that included accusations
that
the Russian fleet was dumping nuclear waste in the Pacific Ocean.
Environmentalists and free speech advocates, who say the military
journalist
did not disclose any state secrets, have portrayed Pasko's case
as a
bellwether of basic freedoms in Russia under President Vladimir
Putin.
A former navy captain, Pasko was arrested by counter-intelligence
agents in
1997 on his return from Japan.
Some 110 journalists are currently in prison around the world
for their
investigations, and around 500 reporters have been killed in the
past decade
doing their work.
See also:
Grigory
Pasko Case | 