Abstract
On 20 June, the Russian environmental journalist Grigory Pasko stood up again before the military court in Vladivostok, charged for the second time with treason. If convicted, he faces a prison sentence of 12-20 years. Pursued by the Russian authorities for almost four years, Pasko was an investigative journalist with the Russian Pacific Fleet paper Boyevaya Vakhta. He was initially arrested on 20 November 1997 and accused of passing of classified documents to the Japanese television network NHK; he claims he was prosecuted for blowing the whistle to Japanese media on Russian nuclear waste-dumping in the Sea of Japan (Index 3/1999, 1/2001, 2/2001). After 20 months in prison awaiting trial, he was acquitted of treason, found guilty of 'abusing his authority as an officer' and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. He was released under an amnesty but recharged after the Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court overturned the verdict of the lower court and called for new hearings on 21 November 2000. Index presents the first English translation of excerpts from his prison diary.