Vladivostok - A Russian journalist, Capt Grigory Pasko, charged with selling classified naval materials and spying, said in closing comments at his trial yesterday that he was the innocent victim of a "Stalin-like regime".
The captain told a military court in Vladivostok that he had just been doing his job as a journalist when he filmed reports for Japanese television accusing the Russian navy of dumping nuclear waste.
"This case will go into history as a display of a Stalin-like regime. A guilty sentence will be an act of triumph of unlawful and arbitrary rule," he said.
Capt Pasko was brought to court with his hands handcuffed behind his back, a security measure usually taken when moving suspected murderers or dangerous criminals. Amnesty International has described Capt Pasko as a "prisoner of conscience" and argued that it was illegal to conceal the violations reported by the journalist.