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

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]

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.

Far-fetched charges and a secret trial – these are the symbols of an epoch that has passed. Silence in such a situation will mean supporting lawlessness. We demand that the persecution of Vil Mirzayanov be stopped. It would be natural for the Attorney General’s Office to drop the charges and thus put a full stop to the dishonest game of the groups that still yearn for their omnipotence of the past.

The Statement the Chairman of the U.S. Congress Committee on Government Operations, John Conyers, January 4, 1994.

“I am deeply troubled by reports that the Russian government intends to proceed with a closed trial this week in the case of Dr. Vil Mirzayanov.

Dr. Mirzayanov was a researcher who worked in the State Union Scientific Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology in Russia who was arrested for divulging state secrets. His arrest resulted from an article he co-authored, which revealed that the Russian government’s public call for the elimination of chemical weapons was deceptive, since new chemical weapons research was being secretly funded. Recently, he received a Special Recognition Award for Moral Courage from the Cavallo Foundation.

Secret Star Chamber proceedings are completely inconsistent with the open democratic society that Russia claims it is in the process of building. The continuation of closed and secret trials in Russia is very disturbing, especially on the eve of the upcoming Summit. Indeed, the treatment of Dr. Mirzayanov stands in stark contrast to the most important purpose of the upcoming summit – the strengthening of Russia’s democratic institutions…I have asked Secretary of State Christopher to personally appeal for the release of Dr. Mirzayanov. Whistleblowers on both sides of the now defunct Iron Curtain deserve protection, not prosecution.

I have asked Secretary of State Christopher to personally appeal for the release of Dr. Mirzayanov. Whistleblowers on both sides of the now defunct Iron Curtain deserve protection, not prosecution. I know that the Clinton Administration shares my concern, and is working to see that justice is served in the Mirzayanov case.”

Letter of the the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to the Attorney General of Russia, Aleksei Kazannik, January 13, 1994.

Dear Attorney General Kazannik,

We understand that the trial of Dr. Vil Mirzayanov on criminal charges of having revealed state secrets has been scheduled to begin on the Moscow City Court on the morning of January 24, 1994. We further understand that an initial determination has been made that these proceedings will not be open to the public.

As the largest scientific organization in the United States, with 138,000 individual members and 296 affiliated scientific groups, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) wishes to express serious concern about the charges that have been brought against Dr. Mirzayanov, and to strongly encourage you to permit foreign observers to witness his trial.

Our concerns are based on the fact that Dr. Mirzayanov, in making public information on chemical weapons development, storage and leakage in the Moscow region, was acting pursuant to his professional and ethical responsibilities as a scientist, and under the protection of international treaty standards regarding human rights and the regulation of chemical weapons production. Under the terms of a number of international instruments to which Russia is a party, including the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological and Toxic Weapons, the Declaration on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and the bilateral Agreement Between the United States and the U.S.S.R. on Destruction and Non-Production of Chemical Weapons, the production and storage of the chemical agents in question may well have been in violation of international law. This fact, plus the very real environmental and health hazards posed by the production and storage of these chemical agents near Moscow, placed a clear obligation on Dr. Mirzayanov to make public the information available to him on this matter, consistent with his ethical and professional responsibilities as a scientist working on the project.

Russia also is bound by a number of international human rights instruments whose provisions would apply to the Mirzayanov case, including assurances against arbitrary arrest and prosecutions, and the guarantee of a fair and public hearing, in Articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Articles 9 through 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The fact, thankfully, that Russia and the nations of the West are no longer in a state of “cold war” adds a powerful practical reason why “state secret” laws should not be applied in this case. Holding the criminal proceedings against Dr. Mirzayanov in secret only adds to the concern that standards of international human rights and justice are not being properly observed. The criminal prosecution and the holding of the trial with closed proceedings are inconsistent with the new spirit of openness and cooperation between our two countries that most recently is demonstrated by the visit of President Clinton to Russia that is taking place this week. Nothing would be a more appropriate follow-up to this visit, and the cordial meetings between Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin that are now taking place, than to permit U.S. observers at the trial, or better still, dropping all charges against Dr. Mirzayanov. Over the past few years, Russia has made substantial forward strides in releasing its political prisoners and eliminating the past practice of secret trials. The Mirzayanov prosecution and secret trial is an unfortunate and very surprising throwback to past practices under the totalitarian regime.