News
Publish date: October 19, 1998
Written by: Igor Kudrik
News
– The judge is expecting to receive secret decrees by tomorrow morning,before the court session begins, said Aleksandr Nikitin to the BellonaWeb today. – Then the judge wants to suspend the court session for twodays to let me and my defence counsel to read through these documents.
The secret Defence Ministry decrees in question, some of them appliedretroactively, constitute basis for the high treason charges filedagainst Aleksandr Nikitin. Usage of secret retroactive normative actsagainst Nikitin is a direct violation of the Russian Constitution andinternationally recognised principles of legal protection.
Nikitin’s lawyer Yury Schmidt says that making these decrees availablefor the defence counsel and the accused will not remove violations ofthe Nikitin’s rights.
– The judge must first decide whether the very fact of applying thesedecrees is legal at all, says Yury Schmidt. – The charges must be basedon published federal laws. If not, the charges filed against Nikitinhave absolutely no legal grounds, adds Schmidt.
An accident aboard numerous Volgoneft oil tankers in the Kerch in mid December clearly show what can happen to aged ships when they are operated in bad weather—and when economic and military objectives are prioritized over the lives of crews and environmental safety.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.
A survey of events in the field of nuclear and radiation safety relating to Russia and Ukraine.
A visit last week by Vladimir Putin and a Kremlin entourage to Astana, Kazakhstan sought in part to put Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, on good footing with local officials.