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The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, bearing
in mind the European Convention for Human Rights and the rulings
of the European Court for Human Rights, in particular, Articles
6(1), 6(2), 7 and 10 of the Convention and Articles 15(3), 15(4),
29(4), 42, 49 and 50(2) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation;
and declaring that we regard the sentencing of the Russian military
journalist Grigory Pasko, who on December 25, 2001, convicted
by the Military Court of the Pacific Fleet, to four years of imprisonment
on the charge of state treason in the form of espionage and possession
of documents containing state secrets, and taking him into custody
as a violation of the standards set by the European Commission
for Human Rights;
declaring that the Amnesty International which is carefully
monitoring this case considers Grigory Pasko a prisoner of conscience
and declares that the persecution of Pasko is obviously "motivated
by political revenge for informing the public about the practice
of burying nuclear waste" and expresses deep concern over
the fairness of such a trial;
declaring that the legal basis of the sentence is the secret
Resolution No 055/96 of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian
Federation which was not registered and published in accordance
with Russian legislature and, consequently, is invalid and illegal in
accordance with the recently adopted resolution of the Supreme
Court of the Russian Federation;
realising the importance of this case for the creation of a
law-governed state in Russia:
1. Calls on the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to release
military journalist Grigory Pasko until the examination of his
appeal by the Military Board of the Supreme Court, guarantee that
the appeal will be considered as rapidly as possible in accordance
with the general principles of the supremacy of law, which Russia
is obliged to observe in accordance with the European Convention
on Human Rights and the Constitution of the Russian Federation;
2. Instructs the PACE Commission for Legal Issues and Human
Rights to carefully monitor the Pasko case and prepare a corresponding
report to the next session of the Assembly.
See also:
Press Release. January
25, 2002. Deputies of YABLOKO - members of the Russian delegation
in the PACE prepare draft resolution on the Pasko case
Grigory Pasko case
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