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The European Journalism Centre Media News of 01 February 1999
A Russian military court Thursday disqualified a defense lawyer of journalist Grigory Pasko, charged with treason for exposing the dumping of radio active waste by Russia's Pacific Fleet.
Attorney Karen Nersesyan was barred from the court after having been accused of leaking sensitive information related to the case to the local press. After being disqualified, Nersesyan further charged the military court with bias against his defendant. ''After dealing with Pasko, they decided to deal with me,'' he said.
Pasko, a navy captain who worked for the Pacific Fleet's newspaper, was arrested on November 20, 1997 and accused by the KGB successor body the Federal Security Service (FSB) of ''high treason''. The officer is charged with espionage for a foreign power. His prosecution follows his revelations to Japanese journalists that the fleet was dumping chemical and liquid radioactive waste in the Sea of Japan.
Pasko's case has received international attention, with Amnesty International declaring the military journalist a prisoner of conscience.