Court Overturns Award for Mirzayanov

A recent landmark legal victory by the chemist Vil Mirzayanov, who won compensation from the Public Prosecutor's Office and his former employer for damages to his moral and physical state, was overturned Friday at the Moscow city court.Mirzayanov, 59, who had been imprisoned by the authorities on charges of leaking state secrets, described the new ruling as "tragic" and said he would not give up his efforts to punish the state for infringing on his liberty."I hope another court will correct the ruling of this conservative, communist-minded court," Mirzayanov said.The city court ruled in favor of the two official organizations, which had protested the decision by a lower Moscow district court a month ago to fine the Public Prosecutor's Office for abusing a citizen's rights. It was the first such case in Soviet, or now Russian, legal history.The Perovsky district court had fined the Public Prosecutor's Office and the State Institute of Organic Chemical Technology 20 million rubles ($10,000) and 10 million rubles, respectively, for initiating and continuing criminal proceedings against the scientist on charges of leaking state secrets.But on Friday the city court sent the case back down for further investigation, on the grounds that the current law does not provide for compensation for damages to a person's emotional wellbeing and that several technicalities had been ignored. "It would be a disaster for all Russian people, including scientists and judges, if a citizen who has suffered from abuse by the state cannot find protection in a high court," Mirzayanov said before the decision was announced. "The defendants admit that damage has been done to me, but they refuse to pay for it."Friday's ruling overturned what had in June been hailed by human rights activists as a landmark legal victory of an individual against the state."The justice system has cheated because it was scared," said Andrei Mironov, a human rights activist and a former political prisoner. "This case provides a precedent. Can you imagine how many people would claim damages if Mirzayanov succeeded?"Mirzayanov sued the Public Prosecutor's Office, the institute and the Federal Counterintelligence Service after being cleared of charges of leaking state secrets in February.The suit against the counterintelligence service was rejected by the Perovsky district court on the ground that it was not responsible for its predecessor, the Security Ministry.Mirzayanov, who used to head the counterintelligence department of the secret organic technology institute, was put on trial after a 15-month investigation into a 1992 newspaper publication disclosing classified information about the existence of binary and other new chemical weapons in Russia.During the investigation Mirzayanov was twice put in prison for a total of about 40 days, the second time for refusing to attend his own trial. He maintained the case had been fabricated and dismissed the proceedings as unconstitutional.Russian officials in charge of the country's chemical arsenal have repeatedly denied Mirzayanov's charges that they have continued to develop new chemical weapons, even after saying they had stopped