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

Then Prosecutor Buivolov spoke. He declared that I had committed a state crime, so I couldn’t be released from jail. I asked for the floor again, saying that thanks to this prosecutor I still didn’t have a qualified defense attorney and had to defend myself.

“Those who initiated my case, which can’t be fairly investigated in the future, want to keep me in jail,” I said. “The prosecution is afraid of publicity and wants to unfairly convict me under the guise of secrecy.”

The secretary announced that the court would adjourn for a conference, and I remained seated in my place. The door of the hall opened, and I saw the photo-journalists snapping off shots with their cameras again.

The break lasted about 20 minutes. Then Judge Schanin returned to the hall and read out the court’s resolution, which agreed “To satisfy the complaint of Vil Sultanovich Mirzayanov and release him from custody into the court hall,” and “To secure a written statement from V. S. Mirzayanov not to leave his permanent place of residence. The Resolution is final, not subject to appeal or protest.” [99] “Resolution Kalinin District Court of Moscow”, November 2, 1992. See Annex 12.

Should I even mention what I felt hearing the resolution about my release? I was just happy! Even experienced people couldn’t remember that the court ever released anyone from Lefortovo.

I can’t judge whether that was true or not. In any case, the ruling of Judge Aleksander Schanin confounded all the plans of the Chekists, who were accustomed to dealing with powerless prisoners under the cover of secrecy. The secretary of the court immediately asked me to come up to the judge, and sign a receipt for a copy of the resolution, and a written statement of consent not to leave Moscow.

The doors of the court hall opened and journalists, many of whom kept taking pictures, asked me for a few words for the press and television. I did this with pleasure, because I knew that, to a great extent, I owed my release to the mass media, which brought my case to light with an obvious sympathy for me.

However, I wasn’t freed immediately after signing the statement of obligation with the judge, because there were a few formalities that had to be taken care of with the guard who had brought me to the court. Once more I was escorted to the court’s basement, and the head of the guard made a phone call to confirm that no other criminal proceedings had been instituted against me. Having found out that there were no problems of this sort, he gave me a paper to sign, which said that I had no complaints about the guards escorting me.

After that I was free to leave the court basement and go out into the street, where a TV journalist was waiting for me. I gave an interview as if I was in a dream. I was so joyful about my unexpected release that I couldn’t even believe that it had happened. At the end of our conversation the journalist asked where I was going to go, and I responded that I was going straight home to my children. Suddenly, I remembered that I didn’t have even a ruble in my pocket. The journalist saw my embarrassment and she volunteered to lend me some money for the fare.

Forty minutes later I made it home, where journalists were waiting for me. They took pictures endlessly of my reunion with my children and asked us to repeat this scene again and again.

The next day the phone rang constantly, and I gave numerous interviews to Russian and foreign correspondents explaining the essence of my case. I never forgot for a minute that my case was only in the initial stage and that I had to prepare myself for a difficult struggle.

On November 3 rd, the lawyer Aleksander Asnis arrived and we agreed to discuss the details of my defense. The major obstruction for my case was the demand by the prosecution that Asnis get a security clearance for access to classified documents. Naturally, my lawyer couldn’t agree to that and insisted that the letter and the spirit of the law should be observed. Investigator Shkarin called and summoned me, and I answered, “It’s my duty to come to the interrogation, but our talk will be absolutely useless until my lawyer is present. Before he is allowed to participate, I won’t even greet you, to say nothing of signing any transcripts.”

The Investigation Department of the Ministry of Security (MB RF) and the Attorney General’s Office were in a very awkward position. It was impossible to deny my lawyer participation in the case on legal grounds, when practically every day the press was holding the spotlight on our struggle.

My lawyer made a strong play to resolve the problem. He wrote a letter to the Attorney General’s Office, petitioning to legally transfer my case to his office for prosecution. The correspondence between officials from the prosecutor’s office and the FSK (another incarnation of the KGB) shows they were quite embarrassed about it.

What can we say? There had never been a clash of this sort between the unlimited freedom of the Chekists’ investigation and formal practice of law which the Attorney General’s Office had to observe under the circumstances.

The KGB understood that the case would become completely hopeless despite all the efforts of the investigators, without the cover of secrecy. This is why General Balashov, the Head of the Investigation Department of MB RF, acting upon the advice of Investigator Shkarin, wrote a letter imploring the Prosecutor’s Office not to ruin the former practice of conducting business. He said it was essential to their work and added “In our opinion, if we let Asnis participate in the case without observing the established requirements, the investigation will find itself in a situation where it will have to disclose information that constitutes a state secret”. [100] Annex 13: Letter of Head of the Department for Supervision of the Implementation of the Laws on Federal Security and International Relations State Justice Counselor of the Third Class Leonid M. Syukasev to Major General S.D. Balashov; October 30, 1992 N 13/2-1040-92. Top Secret; Annex 14: Letter of Major General S.D. Balashov to Leonid Sykasev, November 4, 1992. N 6/2753. Top Secret. He was right, but he had only himself to blame for throwing himself into this hole…

The newspaper Izvestia kept the spotlight on the problem of allowing my lawyer access to my case, and on November 5, 1992, it published a bitter response in an article “Selling Motherland is Under Great Secrecy.” [101] Andrey Illesh and Valeri Rudnev, “Selling the Motherland is Under Great Secrecy,” Izvestia , 6 November 1992; Valeri Rudnev, “Without my lawyer I’ll not tell you even “Hello”’, Izvestia , 13 November 1992. In this article, journalists made it absolutely clear to the readers that the delay on the part of the KGB was absolutely illegal. They also made another very critical point – that when the investigators looking into the case of the Committee for Organizing the Coup in August of 1991 had demanded a clearance for the famous lawyer Henry Reznik (who defended the coup supporter Plekhanov), they had to give in and allow the defense attorney to take part in the case without this document, because of public pressure.

After another refusal by the Investigation Department to let Asnis take part in my case, he sent another complaint addressed to the Attorney General of Russia. As a result, Deputy Attorney General Ivan Zemlyanushin sent an indignant letter to the Deputy Minister of MB RF demanding that access to my case be given to Aleksander Asnis. [102] Letter of First Deputy Attorney General of the Russian Federation State Justice Counselor of the 2nd Class I.S. Zemlyanushin to Deputy Minister of the MB RF Major General A.E. Safonov. December 10, 1992 N 13/2-1040-92,Top Secret. See Annex 15. The Deputy Minister of the MB RF, Anatoly Safonov, didn’t have any choice but to order General Balashov to “…stop violating the Law”. So, Chekists suffered a second defeat in my case, when my lawyer was granted access. [103] Letter of Head of the Department, Major General S.D. Balashov to Deputy Attorney General of RF I.S. Zemlyanushin. October 17, 1992 N 6/280. Secret. See Annex 16.