Alexander Konstantinowitsch Nikitin
Alexander Konstantinowitsch Nikitin ( Russian Александр Константинович Никитин ; born May 16, 1952 in Akhtyrka , Ukrainian SSR) is a Russian engineer-mechanic and former officer of the Russian Northern Fleet as a submarine captain and inspector for nuclear safety.
He started working with the international Norwegian environmental foundation Bellona Foundation in 1994 and later with Western journalists. In February 1996, he was then by the Russian domestic security service FSB arrested and charged with treason and espionage accused. The immediate reason for this was his contribution to an internationally published report by Bellona on the dangers of inadequate nuclear safety in the Russian Northern Fleet. In Russia, the report was immediately banned and the authors, especially Nikitin, faced the death penalty if convicted as charged.
After ten months in custody, Nikitin was released from custody in December 1996 on the orders of Mikhail Katuschew, then Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia. However, upon release from pre-trial detention, the proceedings were not terminated and the charges were not yet overturned. Nikitin first appeared in the case in October 1998, when the Saint Petersburg City Court dismissed the evidence presented against him by the prosecution. Instead of acquitting Nikitin, however, the court returned the case to the FSB for further investigation. The appellate court upheld this decision in February 1999 and the FSB brought a new charge in July 1999.
The second round of negotiations also began in November 1999 before the City Court in Saint Petersburg and finally ended on December 29, 1999 with a complete acquittal. The prosecution appealed against it, but it was rejected by the next higher instance. The acquittal became final on April 17, 2000.
However, the prosecution was unwilling to simply accept this acquittal. On May 30, 2000, the Russian Prosecutor General asked the Presidium of the Russian Supreme Court to reopen the case. The Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia rejected this retrial on September 13, 2000. The case acquired fundamental significance in that it was the first time in Russia that an indictment brought before the court by the hitherto almost all-powerful Russian domestic intelligence service FSB was finally dismissed and the accused was fully acquitted.
Alexander Nikitin is still actively involved in environmental and human rights issues in Russia today. In the meantime he has become the head of the Bellona Office for Environmental Law in Saint Petersburg, where he deals with environmental and nuclear safety issues as well as human rights cases. In 1997 he was awarded the Goldman Environment Prize. However, as a result of the ongoing proceedings against him, he was prevented from attending the award ceremony himself. In 1999 he was the first to receive the Whistleblower Prize .
Web links
- Biography Bellona
- Website via the Goldman Environmental Prize ( Memento of 2 September 2011 at the Internet Archive () english )
- Alexander Nikitin University of Passau (Publik Forum 23/1999, p. 20f.)
- Article about Nikitin in the Tagesspiegel of December 29, 1999
Individual evidence
- ↑ The report appeared under the title (here translated into German) "The Russian Northern Fleet - Sources for Radioactive Contamination" in several languages. It is available in English, Norwegian and Russian on the Bellona homepage for reading under this link ( Memento from December 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nikitin, Alexander Konstantinowitsch |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Никитин, Александр Константинович (Russian) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Russian environmental activist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 16, 1952 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Akhtyrka |