[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 6 (Tuesday, February 1, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
          RUSSIAN SCIENTIST AND RULE OF LAW ON TRIAL IN MOSCOW

 Mr. DeCONCINI. Mr. President, I would like to call to the 
attention of my colleagues today a closed trial that opened in Moscow 
last Monday, January 24. A Russian scientist named Vil Mirzayanov is 
being tried on charges of exposing state secrets.
  As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I most assuredly 
believe a nation has a right to preserve certain secrets related to 
national security. But let's look at the particulars of this case.
  Dr. Mirzayanov is a Moscow scientist and chemist who in 1992, on the 
basis of his work in a secret laboratory in Moscow, disclosed in the 
Russian and Western press that Russia was continuing to test chemical 
weapons despite having signed international agreements banning such 
tests. Subsequently, Dr. Mirzayanov was arrested and briefly held in 
custody in October 1992. He was then kept under house arrest until 
January 24, 1994, when his trial convened.
  What Dr. Mirzayanov did must have infuriated some influential members 
of the Russian military-industrial complex, although it was apparently 
not illegal under Russian law at that time. Therefore, authorities 
prevailed upon Prime Minister Chernomyrdin to sign a retroactive secret 
decree in March 1993 to make Mirzayanov's allegations a crime. It 
hardly seems likely that a government supposedly committed to rule of 
law would hold a citizen liable for violating a decree not made public. 
Incidentally, the new Russian Constitution quite sensibly forbids using 
secret decrees as a basis for criminal charges.
  Human rights activists and members of the scientific community have 
come to Dr. Mirzayanov's defense, both in terms of the legality of his 
trial and with respect to the substance of Dr. Mirzayanov's allegations 
that Russia is continuing chemical weapons testing. Dr. Joshua 
Lederberg, president of the New York Academy, has called for the 
charges against Dr. Mirzayanov to be dropped. ``Otherwise,'' he notes, 
``we must conclude that Mirzayanov was telling the truth and a whole 
new class of deadly binary chemical weapons was created and that the 
Russian Government is reverting to the old Soviet-style practice of 
persecuting dissident scientists.'' I would note also that the 
respected Russian scientist and academic Roald Sagdeev has written that 
``the trial of Mirzayanov can only bring irreparable moral harm to the 
policies of the Russian Government and indeed the entire cause of 
peace.''
  The administration has also been following this case closely. 
Ambassador Pickering in Moscow has called it ``more than strange and 
more than usual that someone could be either prosecuted or persecuted 
for telling the truth about an activity which is contrary to a treaty 
obligation of a foreign government.'' I'd say that's putting it mildly, 
considering the nature of the treaty obligations.
  The Mirzayanov trial involves more than the fate of one man. It is a 
foreboding indication of the direction toward which Russia may be 
heading in the post-cold war era. Who is in charge here. Civilians 
operating under rule of law, or a military-industrial complex that can 
pull secret regulations out of a hat when challenged?
  I hope that good will, common sense, and the rule of law will prevail 
in Moscow. Many conscientious Russians, in and out of government, are 
seeking justice for Dr. Mirzayanov. The Commission on Security and 
Cooperation in Europe, of which I am pleased to serve as chairman, is 
proud to join in their efforts. Along with Commission co-chairman 
Representative Steny Hoyer, I have written to Ambassador Lukin and 
asked him to convey our deepest concerns about the Mirzayanov trial to 
President Yeltsin. I hope that others will join us.

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