Presenting Guest Blogger Grigory Pasko

(due to a spamming issue, I had to republish this entry, which originally appeared on November 10). We’re pleased to announce that www.robertamsterdam.com will be featuring an exclusive series of articles from one of Russia’s most well known investigative journalists, environmentalists, and civil society actors, Grigory Pasko. Grigory Pasko is a former naval officer and journalist who worked for the Russian Navy’s newspaper Boyevaya Vakhta. Following a series of investigative reports on Russian ships illegally dumping nuclear waste into the ocean, Pasko was arrested in 1997 for the possession of state secrets with the intent to supply them abroad. During his imprisonment he wrote prolifically, and gained the overwhelming support of international human rights groups, who denounced the Russian government’s attempts to violate his right to free speech. In 2002, Pasko was awarded the Reporters Without Borders Fondation de France Prize. In January of 2003, Pasko was released from prison following an extremely rare civil court decision overturning a verdict from a military court. Since his release, Pasko has campaigned tirelessly for human rights, environment, and press freedom in Russia, and has continued producing excellent investigative journalism. It is a great honor for this website to feature a series of exclusive, original articles by Mr. Pasko on the situation of Russian prison camps, and other urgent issues relating to human rights. Mr. Pasko can be reached at the here via email.