Russian Supreme Court declares lawful secrecy of casualties suffered in special operations in peace time
MOSCOW. Nov 10 (Interfax) - The Russian Supreme Court definitively pronounced lawful the president's decree making secret casualties suffered in special operations in peacetime on Tuesday.
The appeal against the decree was turned down, and the first-instance court judgment took effect, an Interfax correspondent reported.
The appeal was filed by lawyers, reporters, Svetlana Davydova - a resident of the town of Vyazma in the Smolensk region charged with high treason and released due to the absence of formal elements of a crime - military journalist Grigory Pasko convicted on espionage counts, and Pskov Region Legislative Assembly deputy Lev Shlosberg.
On August 13, Russian Supreme Court judge Yuri Ivanenko said that the Russian president's decree and item 10 of the list of state secret information fully complied with Russian laws.
According to the resolution, the Russian Supreme Court believes that the decree protects information about the location, structure and operative situation of the Russian Armed Forces which is a state secret and that it is not at odds with the Federal Law on State Secrets. If there are any doubts about the constitutionality of this decree, it may be verified only by the Constitutional Court.
The document described personnel casualties as the inability of an individual (individuals) to continue the fulfillment of their service duties because of death, injury or another medical condition.
The claimants argued that item 10 of the list of state secret information (information disclosing Russian Defense Ministry casualties in wartime, peacetime and the period of special operations) breached their right to the free search for, access to and dissemination of information guaranteed by the Russian constitution and federal laws, among them the Federal Law on State Secrets. It also contains ambiguous and non-specific wordings that threaten the claimants with criminal liability and violate rights of the claimants - journalists, they said.
The claimants said the Federal Law on State Secrets did not vest the president with the power to expand the list of state secret information.
A decree of the Russian president adjusting the list of state secret information was published on the official legal information portal on May 28. The decree attributed to state secrets "information disclosing casualties suffered by Russian Defense Ministry personnel in wartime, peacetime and the period of special operations."
Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov assured reporters that the decree had nothing to do with the events in eastern Ukraine.