A former officer of the Russian Navy, Grigory Pasko is the founding editor of Ecology and Law, a quarterly magazine on environmental and citizens’ rights, and currently the director of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism – Foundation 19/29 (Russia).

Pasko, who worked as an investigative journalist for the Russian Pacific Fleet’s newspaper, was arrested in 1997 by security police and accused of espionage after exposing the dumping of nuclear waste by the Russian Navy in the Sea of Japan. He was initially found not guilty, but later sentenced to three years in prison for “abuse of his official position”. Both he and the prosecution appealed and, in 2001, the Court of the Pacific Fleet sentenced Pasko to four years of hard labour for treason. Amnesty International recognised Pasko as a prisoner of conscience, saying the prosecution was “motivated by political reprisal”. In 2003, Pasko was released after serving two thirds of his sentence.

Pasko, who is currently conducting investigations into corruption in the Nord Stream and South Stream gas pipeline projects, as well as at Gazprom, will join Vugar Bayramov, chairman of the Centre for Economic and Social Development (Azerbaijan); Tom Bergin, oil and gas reporter for Reuters (UK); and Godber Tumushabe, executive director of the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (Uganda); in a panel titled “Chasing the Story: What the Government Should Tell You” on Tuesday, Sept. 18.

Other newly-confirmed speakers include:

• Anas Alhajji, chief economist at NGP Energy Capital Management, an Irving, Texas-based investment company in the natural resources sector
• Curtis Williams, a freelance oil and gas reporter in Trinidad and Tobago

Check the conference programme here.

Nick Nwolisa
Head of Department
Programs Development and International Relations
International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF)
E-mail: nicknwolisa(at)iepf-ngo.org
Mobile: +994-50-411-2310
Office: +994-12-539-7697