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Jailed Russian journalist Pasko wins reporting prize
PARIS, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Imprisoned Russian journalist Grigory Pasko was named by French media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Tuesday as the winner of its 11th annual Fondation de France prize.
Pasko was charged with high treason in December 2001 for having helped Japanese journalists report on the Russian navy's dumping of toxic waste and sentenced to four years in a high security jail in a case condemned internationally.
Calling Pasko's incarceration a wake-up call for journalists, RSF presented the prize to Pasko's wife in Paris, on the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
"The nuclear pollution caused by the Russian military fleet in the Sea of Japan is far too critical a matter for Moscow to give the media any opportunity to investigate it further," the watchdog said in a statement.
"Their priority seems to be to muzzle the press, rather than to deal with the ecological impact on Russia's worried neighbouring countries," it continued.
Pasko, who lost an appeal in June, had worked with Japanese television and newspapers gathering information for reports that included accusations that the Russian fleet was dumping nuclear waste in the Pacific Ocean.
Environmentalists and free speech advocates, who say the military journalist did not disclose any state secrets, have portrayed Pasko's case as a bellwether of basic freedoms in Russia under President Vladimir Putin.
A former navy captain, Pasko was arrested by counter-intelligence agents in 1997 on his return from Japan.
Some 110 journalists are currently in prison around the world for their investigations, and around 500 reporters have been killed in the past decade doing their work.
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