The accusation is reported based on a new list of “state secrets” drawn up on March 30, 1993 and signed by Prime Minister Chernomyrdin. This new list includes chemical weapons previously not so categorized, and efforts have been made to make the list apply retroactively to the case. Thus it appears that his accusers are attempting to make our colleague’s action retroactively illegal.
We call upon you to intervene so that the charges against Dr. Mirzayanov may be dropped and his diplomas be restored in order for him to continue his professional employment so that he may again contribute to the advancement of the human condition.
The speedy termination of this case should be looked upon at this time as an opportunity to bring about improved international and internal relations. Mutual trust between the U.S. and Russia and increasing openness will be an essential part of the disarmament and verification process.
Thank you for giving this matter your attention.
Sincerely,
Dr. Cyril Harris
cc: Procurator General of Russia V.G. Stepankov, Chairman of the Human Rights Committee Dr. Sergei Kovalev
Annex 63
Letter of the president of the Academy, Nobel Prize Laureate Joshua Lederberg to the Executive Director of the newspaper “The New York Times” Max Frankel. December 6, 1993
Dear Mr. Frankel,
Michael Gordon’s December 1 article referred briefly to the arrest of Russian scientists who maintain that Russia developed a new class of deadly nerve gases.
I would like to call your attention to the central importance of the case of one of these scientists, Dr. Vil Mirzayanov, a chemist and a whistleblower who was arrested in October of 1992 presumably for allegedly revealing state secrets. At that time, no Russian law existed which had any legal bearing on his case. There was no basis for his prosecution: a secret decree was passed by the Council of Ministers on March 30, 1993, which classified all previous work on chemical and biological weapons a state secret. This decree is being used to prosecute the case retroactively, and the case was assigned to the Russian Supreme Court on Nov. 25th.
Since it is doubtful that Mirzayanov revealed any state secrets by merely mentioning this program and, furthermore, that unpublished legal norms have no legal standing, it is highly advisable that the case be promptly dismissed by either the General Procurator’s office or the judge assigned to the case by the Supreme Court.
Otherwise 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.
Best regards,
Dr. Joshua Lederberg
President of the New York Academy of Sciences
University Professor, the Rockefeller University
Annex 64
The statement of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation in the United States on September 15, 1993.
On January 24 the trial of Dr. Mirzayanov will start in Moscow. In a throwback to old discredited practices the trial will be a closed one without independent observers allowed. Dr. Mirzayanov will be tried for disclosing information about a dangerous type of chemical weapons. The charges against him are based on law applied retroactively to cover his actions, and it seems the law was specifically designed for the purpose. These and other extremely questionable decisions by the prosecution should be sufficient for dismissal of the case for procedural grounds. But there are also important human rights principles involved.
Dr. Mirzayanov followed his conscience in making public important information. He did not pursue personal gain. The information that he released about chemical weapons was, possibly damaging to the state or, at least, to the image of some powerful governmental bodies. His actions were not illegal at the time (hence, retroactive application of the law) but they certainly pushed the envelope of things discussed publicly in Russia. If Russia is to become a fully democratic open society, there will be many other instances when the public will have a vested interest in open discussion of problems. If Dr. Mirzayanov is convicted would it mean that every time the state agencies find it unpleasant to have certain issues raised, there will be a new law adopted to retroactively punish disseminators of information? It seems that the intent of forces pushing for the prosecution of Dr. Mirzayanov is to intimidate the public and possible future dissenters. These forces within the Russian “power ministries” are afraid that they will be obligated to change their practices to more open forms suitable for democratic society, and hence relinquish old privileges that allowed, back in the days of the Soviet Union, the power structures to pursue their objectives and administrative policies free from any interference from the public or supervision by the law.
In many respects, Dr. Mirzayanov’s case is a test of the ability of the “old guard” to check the democratization of Russian society and institutions. The Andrei Sakharov Foundation (USA) hopes that the legitimate interest of the state in protecting state secrets will not be used as an excuse to stifle freedom of information which is of such paramount importance in the development of Russian democracy. We urge the court to act as a truly independent branch of the Russian government and not to succumb to pressure. We hope Dr. Mirzayanov will be cleared of all charges.
signed by Alexey Semyonov [son of Elena Bonner]
Annex 65
Sergei Alexeev, Georgi Arbatov, Yuri Afansiev, Vitali Goldansky, Tatiana Zaslavskaya, Len Karpinsky, Viktor Loshak, Alexander Pumpyansky, and Grigory Yavlinsky, Mirzayanov will Face a Secret Trial, Moscow News, January 2, 1993.
In Moscow a closed trial process is beginning for the scientist and chemist Vil Mirzayanov. He is charged with disclosing state secrets, connected with the creation of a new kind of chemical weapon in the former USSR, to the mass media (for example, to MN and the magazine Novoe Vremya.)
During the whole period of the investigation the public was trying to stop the persecution of Vil Mirzayanov, who was saying nothing at all in the press about the technical or other secrets of the new weapons, though he only spoke out about the danger posed to the world by the double standards which were involved in their development, which has continued, even after the Soviet and Russian politicians were mouthing off that work in this area had been terminated.
It seems as though the international convention that Russia signed in January of 1993, that bans the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons should mean that all of the charges against Mirzayanov, which are based on “sub-legal and departmental norms” and were adopted under a different regime, would automatically be dropped. However, this never happened.
The April 20, 1993 statement of the Russian Federation president reads, “The mountains of now useless and dangerous weapons are a heavy burden inherited from the legacy of our past”. Then what will Vil Mirzayanov be prosecuted for?
Bitterness and bewilderment are aroused, not only by the fact of such a trial process, but also because it will be a closed one, in a country which was establishing the principles of democracy.