News

Resolution about assigning the court hearing

Publish date: November 16, 1999

Resolution about assigning the court hearing

The judge of St.-Petersburg City Court S.Y. Golets, having examined the materials of the criminal case no. 02-1\99,
DETERMINED:
according to article 36 of the Russian Criminal Procedure Code this criminal case is under jurisdiction of the Federal Court of St.-Petersburg.
No grounds were found to transfer the case to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation for hearing it in the first instance.
The requirements of the Russian Criminal Procedure Code regarding launching the criminal case, conducting additional investigation, following the requirements of article 201 of the Russian Criminal Procedure Code, are fulfilled.
At the present time no grounds exist for dismissing the case before hearing it in the court.
On October 11, 1999 in accordance with article 233 of the Russian Criminal Procedure Code the Nikitin’s lawyers presented a petition regarding dismissal the criminal case on the base of article 5 (2) of the Russian Criminal Procedure Code.
Having examined the petition in connection with the case files I came to the following conclusions:
on the stage of preliminary investigation Nikitin was accused that in August 1995 he collected the information pertaining to state secret, and in September 1995 transferred it to the foreign organisation;
besides in spring-autumn 1995 he disclosed information pertaining to state secret, which he had access to due to the service.
In the above mentioned petition the defence requires to dismiss the criminal case due to its non-concrete accusations, not fulfilling the court’s orders by the investigative body, illegal charges due to requirements of article 54 (1,2) of the Russian Constitution.
Anyway, as it is evident of the case files, the final charges were levelled against Nikitin on the base of the Russian Federal Law "About state secret" in the edition of July 21, 1993 (with the reference to the edition of the same law of October 6, 1997) with the detailed references (according to preliminary investigation body) to the precise nuclear submarines of the Northern Fleet and the events on them, pertaining to state secret, which were transferred to the foreign organisation; conclusions of the appropriate expert evaluations and the clarification of the charges’ volume, what had been ordered by the court during sending the case for additional investigation.
The final decision about the volume of the charges against Nikitin and their completeness, including the grounds of using the above mentioned law in the edition of October 6, 1997, is the subject of examination during the court hearing. It may not be solved unilaterally, without hearing both sides, examining the case files and the expert conclusions.
The question about illegal decrees again raised by the defence was discussed on the stage of preliminary investigation and was turned down. At the present stage of the criminal proceedings it is premature to discuss this question which also may not be solved unilaterally, without an objective and complete examination of both sides’ opinions about this question.
The restriction for Nikitin is chosen correct, no grounds for its change are available.
According to article 18 (1-3) of the RSFSR Criminal Procedure Code and article 4 of the Russian Law "About state secret" the case is to be heard at a closed court session with the participation of one judge and two jurors.
Basing on the above mentioned, ruling by articles 221-223 (1), 228-230 of the RSFSR Criminal Procedure Code,
DECIDED:
to appoint the court hearing in closed session on the criminal case against Nikitin Alexander Konstantinovich charged with the crimes stipulated by articles 275 (2) and 283 of the Russian Criminal Code, on 11 a.m. November 23, 1999.
To turn down the defence’s petition about Nikitin case dismissal and attach it to the case files.
To hear the case with the participation of the state prosecutor and the lawyers, and summon the persons according to the list of the indictment, presented by the preliminary investigation body.
This resolution may be appealed to the Russian Supreme Court within 7 days from the day of its announcement.

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Judge: signature