Alexander Konstantinovich Nikitin (; born 16 May 1952) is a Russian former

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

officer and

nuclear safety Nuclear safety is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the ...

inspector turned environmentalist. In 1996 he was accused of

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

for revealing the perils of decaying nuclear submarines, and in 2000 he became the first Russian to be completely acquitted of a charge of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

in the Soviet or post-Soviet era.

Whistleblower and espionage accusations

Nikitin started to co-operate with Norwegian environmental

Bellona Foundation The Bellona Foundation is an international environmental NGO headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with branches in Europe and North America. Founded in 1986 by Frederic Hauge and Rune Haaland as a direct action protest group to curb Norway's oil and ...

in 1994. He was arrested in February 1996 by Russian FSB and charged with

through

for his contributions to a Bellona report on the nuclear safety within the Russian

Northern Fleet The Northern Fleet (, ''Severnyy flot'') is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Arctic. According to the Russian ministry of defence: "The Northern Fleet dates its history back to a squadron created in 1733 to protect the terri ...

. On 30 August,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

declared him a

prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...

and began an international campaign for his release. After having spent ten months in pre-trial detention in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

he was released on the order of Mikhail Katushev, the then deputy Russian Prosecutor General, in December 1996. The charges were however, not dropped. Nikitin first stood trial in October 1998, when the Saint Petersburg

City Court A city court or municipal court is a court of law with jurisdiction limited to a city or other municipality. It typically addresses "violations of city ordinances and may also have jurisdiction over minor criminal cases...and over certain civil cas ...

rejected the evidence against him. But rather than acquitting him, the Court sent the case back to the FSB for additional investigation. The

Supreme Court of Russia The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation () is a court within the judiciary of Russia and the court of last resort in Russian administrative law, civil law, criminal law and commercial law cases. It also supervises the work of lower courts ...

confirmed this decision in February 1999, and the FSB filed new charges in July 1999. The second trial started at the Saint Petersburg City Court in November 1999, and ended on 29 December with a full acquittal. The prosecution appealed to the Supreme Court, but the acquittal was confirmed and reached legal force on 17 April 2000. Nikitin was defended by a group of attorneys in law, including Yury Schmidt,

Ivan Pavlov Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (, ; 27 February 1936) was a Russian and Soviet experimental neurologist and physiologist known for his discovery of classical conditioning through his experiments with dogs. Pavlov also conducted significant research on ...

Victor Drozdov The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

, Henri Reznik and others. The prosecution was, however, not willing to call it a day. On 30 May 2000 the Prosecutor General requested the governing body of the Russian Supreme Court, the Presidium, to re-open the case. The basis for the request was that “Nikitin's rights had been violated throughout the proceedings against him, and that these violations had to be repaired” (sic). The Presidium rejected the request on 13 September 2000. Nikitin is still engaged in environmental and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

issues in Russia. He is the head of

’s Saint Petersburg branch, and is engaged in environmental and nuclear safety projects, as well as in human rights cases. In 1997, Nikitin was awarded the

Goldman Environmental Prize The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists. History Awardees are named from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, an ...

from the Goldman Environmental Foundation, but as a result of treason charges against him, he was prevented from attending the Prize ceremony.

References

External links

Bellona Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikitin, Alexander 1952 births Living people Russian environmentalists Trials in Russia Russian military personnel Russian activists Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Russia Russian whistleblowers Russian prisoners and detainees People acquitted of treason Goldman Environmental Prize awardees