| Grigory Pasko | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1962 |
| Occupation | journalist |
| Nationality | Russia |
| Subjects | ecology, politics |
Grigory Mikhailovich Pasko (born 1962) is a Russian journalist and publisher of an environmental magazine.
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Pasko was born in the village Kreshchenovka of the Kherson Oblast, currently Ukraine, to a teacher's family. He graduated from the journalism department of Lvov University in 1983 and worked as an investigative journalist and editor for “Boyevaya Vakhta” (Battle Watch), the in-house newspaper of the Russian Pacific Fleet. He worked together with Japanese journalists from the NHK TV network and the newspaper Asahi Shimbun that specializes in environmental issues. He had disclosed the dumping of nuclear waste by the Russian Navy’s in the Sea of Japan in 1993.[1]
In November 1997 Pasko was arrested by FSB agents in Vladivostok. He was accused of espionage for publications on the environmental problems in the Japanese sea but found not guilty due to lack of evidence. He was found guilty of “abuse of his official position” but released immediately under a general amnesty.[2] He was recognized as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.[3]
After several re-trials, the Court of the Pacific Fleet acquitted Pasko on all counts except espionage, and convicted him to four years of imprisonment for treason on December 25, 2001. He was released from detention in 2003[4] and was only allowed to travel abroad 18 months after his release.[5]
In October 2009 the European Court of Human Rights rejected the complaints raised by Pasko against Russia under Article 10 ECHR (freedom of information) by 6 votes to 1:
| “ | The Court first noted that both pieces of law on which the domestic courts had based their findings, namely the federal law State Secret Act[6] (the Act) of 1993 listing categories of information that may be classified as secret and a Presidential Decree (the Decree) of 1995 listing information classified as secret with sufficient precision, had been in force during the period of the events, had been publicly available and thus enabling Mr Pasko to foresee the consequences of his actions. | ” |
The court also observed that "as a serving military officer, the applicant had been bound by an obligation of discretion in relation to anything concerning the performance of his duties".
Finally, the European court found that "The domestic courts’ decisions appeared reasoned and well-founded. There had been nothing in the materials of the case to support the applicant’s allegations that his conviction had been overly broad or politically motivated or that he had been sanctioned for any of his publications."[7]
His appeal was rejected in May 2010.[8]
Pasko is a member of the Russian PEN Center in Vladivostok. He received human rights award from Reporters without borders in 2002.