Вил Мирзаянов - State Secrets - An Insider's Chronicle of the Russian Chemical Weapons Program

“Who is in charge here? Civilians operating under the rule of law, or a military-industrial complex that can pull secret regulations out of a hat when challenged?” Furthermore, he cited Ambassador Pickering’s remarks at the Russian-American Press Center made on January 28 th, saying that “It seems more than strange to us 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.” [331] Extract from the Congressional Record – Senate. (February 1, 1994. S.S.543-544). Library of Congress . http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin

It seems that the Russian authorities, under the weight of international pressure, started to consider the possible negative consequences of my trial. On February 4, 1994, Reuters reported (with a reference to ITAR-TASS ) that the Russian authorities were allegedly ready to drop my case. Similar information appeared in The Moscow Times . [332] Alexander Gordeyev, “Kremlin Sees Trial of Chemist As Flawed”, The Moscow Times , February 5, 1994. The newspaper reported that Baturin had briefed Boris Yeltsin in detail about the Mirzayanov trial process. The President reacted properly and said that the investigation appeared to be unconstitutional.

On February 5, 1994, after breakfast, I was again taken to the place where I was searched following the usual route, and waited to be taken to the Moscow City Court. This time I had taken Aleksei’s newspapers with me to put under my feet in the cage of the jail van. They came in handy because the morning was once more frigid.

This time they unloaded me almost without incident. When I was out of the van I saw a few photo-correspondents hanging on the fence. The guards hurried to drive them away, but these experienced and clever fellows were constantly snapping off shots, and they only jumped down from the fence after the guards threatened them with their batons.

Once more they kept me for a long time in the same holding cell, in the basement of the Moscow City Court. Then six guards, accompanied by two huge German shepherds, handcuffed me and took me upstairs. When we reached the ground floor I saw many people at the end of the corridor behind the iron bars taking pictures and shooting film footage for television. The dogs began to bark loudly. I raised my shackled hands and tried to greet the journalists, but the guards immediately dragged me to the nearest door trying to hide their faces from the cameras.

We entered a large cold hall with heavily frosted windows. At the side, there was a cage for dangerous criminals, which made the gloomy view of the hall even more menacing.

In the front, on the platform, there were seats for the judges. Not far from them my defender Asnis was sitting in his coat, and Prosecutor Pankratov was sitting on the left. His cold blue face matched his usual blue uniform with the epaulettes. The guards put me into the cage, took off my handcuffs and bolted the door with a crash. Only two soldiers and an officer, who sat near the doors, were left in the hall. Asnis came up to me and told me about my family and what efforts he was making to help me. The judge wouldn’t allow my wife a meeting. This was his way of retaliating. Once more I flatly refused to petition the court to release me from prison, but I agreed to the suggestion of my lawyer that we file two petitions, one about rejecting the current composition of the court (three judges), and the other asking to hold an open trial.

Soon the court secretary commanded, “Rise. Court is in order!” The judges appeared in the doorway behind the platform, with Judge Sazonov at the head. Everyone was dressed in coats.

Nikolai Sazonov, the chairman, asked everybody to sit down and shouted indignantly to the guard, “Why have you locked him in there? Set him free immediately!”

They let me out of the cage and I sat in the first row facing the judges. Two young soldiers sat close to me, one on each side.

The judge asked me sympathetically if I had any complaints about the conditions under which I was being kept. I answered cheerfully that everything was just great, but I still refused to cooperate with the court that didn’t respect the Constitution established by our country.

Prosecutor Pankratov started to whine about how unfair it was that he had to wear just his uniform in that cold room, where the temperature hardly reached 10 degrees Celsius (about 50 degrees Fahrenheit), while everyone else was sitting in their coats…

Asnis took the floor and read his petitions, and then Judge Sazonov announced that the court would adjourn for a meeting. I almost burst out laughing when I saw how Judge Yudin bent over carrying all seven volumes of my case back with him. Apparently he had been told that he should not leave my case materials unattended for a moment, since they carried the sinister “top secret” stamp.

It probably never occurred to the judge that my lawyer was sitting just a few meters from him, with almost a full copy of my case materials on his desk. For the rest of my trial I struggled with the temptation to make a statement and request that Judge Yudin needn’t strain himself carrying such a heavy load, because a copy of my case was available for everyone who wanted it. One copy was on the lawyer’s table, and the other was in the U.S., because I sent it to Gale Colby. I don’t know why, but I felt it was a pity to disappoint these people. I am certain that my case hasn’t been declassified to this day. It is still a state secret…

After a short break the judges took their places again, and Sazonov read the decision of the court to reject my lawyer’s petitions. Then he announced that the hearing of the case would continue, and started reading transcripts of my interrogations, droning on for a long time in a boring voice. Steam puffed out from his mouth, creating the impression that there was a cooking pot inside of the judge, and something was boiling in there.

Time dragged on slowly. Sometimes I tried to observe the reactions of the judges, the prosecutor, and my lawyer. However, it was routine business for them and no one listened to Sazonov. Both my soldiers clung closely to me like kittens to their mother and slept peacefully. The one on the right with his head on my shoulder started snoring a little. The officer at the door slept too, but he opened his eyes from time to time to glance at his soldiers. They were sitting with their side to their commander and a little bit ahead of him, so he contented himself that they were there, next to me. It seemed that military men, like cats, spent most of their lives sleeping. Suddenly I asked myself, “How many days will I have to listen to this bullshit?” As if in response, Judge Sazonov failed to pronounce some very simple chemical term in the transcript of an interrogation. I raised my hand and corrected him. At once the judge asked me, “Maybe you will help us speed up the hearing? After all, we are all in a difficult situation.”

“All right,” I answered. “But first I must make a statement about why I addressed the press and published my articles about chemical weapons.”

The judge agreed. In a period of about six minutes I presented my statement, explaining the motives behind my actions, and I warned the judges that they, like all citizens, as well as their children, were equally helpless before weapons of mass destruction. In the international situation that had developed, chemical weapons were very dangerous for our country because their development, production, and testing caused harm to people’s health, and posed the threat of unpredictable consequences for future generations.

The judges didn’t display any emotions. They were deeply indifferent to everything I said. Then they started asking me questions about separate episodes of my case. I answered truthfully, without worrying that my testimony could later be used against me. After a while, Judge Sazonov announced a break.