In a surprise ruling today, the Ussurisk City Court in the Russia’s far east, released Russian enviromental journalist Grigory Pasko, who was serving a four-year term on charges of treason for passing on information to a Japanese journalist on how Russia dumped nuclear waste in the Pacific Ocean.The Court’s session was held at the high-security prison where the ex-naval officer of the Pacific Fleet’s Boyevaya Vakhta (Battle Watch) newspaper was serving the sentence for espionage.The court took into account that Pasko had never violated the local regulations while in prison. Under the Russian law, a prisoner after serving two-thirds of his sentence and behaving well can apply for parole. Pasko had already served 32 months out of the 48 months he was sentenced to.
