AI is concerned at reports that the health of the above is deteriorating in detention. On 5 August 1996 the prosecutor prolonged Alexander Nikitin’s term in pre-trial detention until 6 October 1996. He has now spent more than half a year in detention. Alexander Nikitin was working on a report concerning the Northern Fleet and radiactive contamination and was charged with disclosing secret information. AI is concerned that he may have been arrested solely on the grounds of his research on behalf of the Norwegian environmental group Bellona.
