Furthermore we want to stress, that Dr. M. did not publish any chemical or technical details concerning the composition of the new chemical weapons nor the production process. So, he did not divulge any state secrets!
In view of the UN Convention on Chemical Weapons (CWC), signed in Paris January of 1993, Dr. M. informed the international public, that in Moscow research is still performed on super-toxic binary chemical weapons (these facts were denied by the Russian Government) and that the CW’s as well as and their precursors are not listed in any of the three schedules of chemicals attached to the final draft of the Chemical Weapons Convention, nor are they included in the list of chemicals prohibited for export from Russia (again, he gave no chemical or technical details!).
From these facts one must question the seriousness of the Russian Government to fulfill the CWC, and two dangerous developments of international dimension and importance arise:
1) the possibility to circumvent the CWC,
2) the enhanced probability of CW proliferation.
We, nearly one thousand scientists of the Initiative in Germany and more than one hundred thousand international colleagues of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility (INES) are deeply concerned about this situation. We are firmly convinced, that Dr. Mirzayanov acted highly responsible and in full agreement with the UNESCO-Recommendations on the Status (in jail) would constitute a severe violation of human rights.
So, again we ask you to observe the development and to intervene in favor of Dr. Vil Mirzayanov and in order to consolidate of the CWC.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hirschwald
P.s. Facts and details submitted here do not only stem from the press, but were confirmed by Dr. Mirzayanov and his wife personally. Members of the Initiative visited Dr. M. three times this year in Moscow and his wife stayed in Germany for one week with our Initiative in October this year.
Annex 60
Letter of the American Association for the Advancement of Science to the President Boris Yeltsin, March 30, 1993
Dear Mr. President:
On behalf of the Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), I am writing to express our deep concern about the situation of Russian chemist Vil Mirzayanov. Dr. Vil Mirzayanov and a colleague, Lev Fedorov, also a chemist, wrote an article, which was published in Moscow News on 20 September 1992, revealing information about the development of chemical weapons in Moscow and the possible environmental hazards posed to the local population by such research. The two men also participated in an interview published in the Baltimore Sun, a U.S. newspaper. Following these events the two men were arrested and their apartments were searched. Although Dr. Fedorov was released after questioning, Dr. Mirzayanov faces prosecution for allegedly divulging state secrets and violating an agreement not to reveal secret information that he signed at his place of employment, the State Union Scientific Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology.
According to information the Committee has received, neither Dr. Mirzayanov nor his lawyer has been allowed to see the formal charges against Dr. Mirzayanov. This appears to violate Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.”
Our Committee believes that Dr. Mirzayanov, as a scientist with special knowledge about the hazards of chemicals released into the environment, has acted in a manner consistent with his professional responsibility to bring forth information about the potential or real dangers of such research. Furthermore, given the Russian participation in negotiations for a Chemical Weapons Convention, the prosecution of Dr. Mirzayanov for revealing information about the development of a binary nerve gas would appear to contradict the spirit of the Convention. The recent corroboration of another chemist, Vladimir Uglev, of Dr. Mirzayanov’s account lends weight to the seriousness of Dr. Mirzayanov’s report.
We urge your government to consider carefully the merits of Dr. Mirzayanov’s case and Russia’s obligations under the Convention. In the event that this matter cannot be resolved without bringing Dr. Mirzayanov to trial, we ask that foreign observers be allowed to attend the trial and that all legal safeguards are accorded Dr. Mirzayanov, as provided under international human rights law.
The AAAS, with 296 affilated scientific societies and 134,000 individual members, is the largest organization of natural and social scientists in the United States and the world’s largest federation of scientific associations. The AAAS publishes Science magazine and concerns itself not only with substantive issues of science but also with the role of science in the world and the rights and responsibilities of scientists. The AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, formed in 1976, focuses on this latter concern and seeks to defend the professional and human rights of scientists everywhere.
Sincerely,
C.K. Gunsalus
Chair, AAAS Committee on Scientific
Freedom and Responsibility
cc: His Excellency Vladimir Petrovich Lukin
Mr. James F. Collins, Charge d’Affaires
Matt Bryza, Department of State
Eric Schultz, Department of State
Annex 61
Letter of the Committee of Concerned Scientists in the U.S to President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, October 25, 1993.
Dear Mr. President,
Troubled by word that the chemist Vil Mirzayanov is still slated for trial on charges of revealing state secrets, we appeal to you once again to intervene so that the case may be dismissed.
As we stated in our July 16 letter to you, the charges against Mirzayanov are based on a new list of state secrets decreed by the Council of Ministers on March 30, 1993. This list includes chemical weapons previously not so categorized. But, Mirzayanov’s alleged offense stems from an article he co-authored six months earlier in Moscow News of September 16, 1992, concerning an on-going chemical weapons development program and its impending environmental danger. Evidently, this decree is being applied retroactively in Mirzayanov’s case.
We firmly believe that the positive resolution of this case is crucial to the development of the democratic society you are laboring to achieve. We therefore urge you in the strongest possible terms to see that the case is dismissed without further delay.
With best wishes for your success in establishing democracy in the Russian Federation and in contributing to world peace,
Sincerely yours,
Co-chairman Joel L. Lebowitz
Co-chairman Paul H. Plotz
Annex 62
Letter of New York Academy of Science to President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, August 25, 1993.
Dear Mr. President,
On behalf of the 39,000 members of this Academy, we are writing to express our concern for the chemist Vil Mirzayanov, who has been indicted for allegedly divulging information about “the overall thrust of research in the interests of the country’s defenses” (the development of binary weapons). These charges were initiated as a result of an article he co-authored with Dr. Lev Fedorov in Moscow News of September 16, 1992, about an ongoing chemical weapons development program and its impending environmental danger.