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Chemist Jailed In Russia For Giving Expert Opinion In Court

Posted by Soulskill on from the science-will-rise-up-against-you dept.

scibri writes "Think the imprisonment of Pussy Riot is a miscarriage of justice? Check out the story of their cellmate: Chemist Olga Nikolaevna Zelenina heads a laboratory at the Penza Agricultural Institute. She is an expert in the biology of hemp and poppy, and is a sought-after expert in legal cases involving narcotics produced from these plants. Last year, she was asked by defense lawyers to give her opinion in a case involving imported poppy seeds. The prosecutors didn't like her evidence though, and now she's in prison accused of complicity in organized drug trafficking."

7 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. Same in the US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Wow, sort of like the private equity firms that support Romney getting investigated and subpoena'd while MF Global and John Corzine (an Obama supporter) go free. As the government behemoth grows, so does the need to appease the beast lest you suffer the wraith of those in power. Sad.

    1. Re:Same in the US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I was about to reply to this story when I read your response. I tend to agree that the New Russia is becoming like the New Amerika. Can we bring back the guillotine and have a simultaneous American-Russian Revolution in which the people of both countries rise up against their own Ruling Class or Bourgoise. Nothing like blood in the streets to keep the bureaucrats in check.

      Captcha: 'disdain' - poetic and timely

    2. Re:Same in the US by Virtucon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There has been a long standing belief that them that has the gold makes the rules. In our country justice is supposed to be blind but as we hear more and more those without resources caught in the wheels of justice often get turned into gear lube. While I'm concerned with it, I don't think ultimately that our system of justice is flawed completely however your statement would be on the investigative/prosecutorial side of things, not in terms of the court. In the pussy riot brewhaha, the judge should have thrown the case out, but it would appear that the judge is also serving the guy in office rather than the business of the people. In this case I can't see how a judge would keep this scientist in detention for just an opinion based on documented testing results, that is unless she did it for somebody else. I guess there's just more to this than we're being told, kind of like "Fast and Furious?"

      --
      Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
    3. Re:Same in the US by wierd_w · · Score: 5, Interesting

      IIRC, the bourgoise were the 1% of their age.

      BOTH obama and romney, and all associated tools are neatly tucked into that 1% demographic.

      What the french did was repeatedly eliminate the 1%-ers. (Remove the top 1%... check to see if the problem resolved.. remove the next top 1%... rinse, repeat until problem solved, or population == 0)

      We call them "the 1%", they called them "bourgoise". Same difference. Its the people with all the money, influcence, connections, and power to be assfucks.

      Note: the french had to do it... REPEATEDLY.

      It isn't JUST the 1%-ers. It's also the people who would seek to replace them straight up, and the people who readily and willingly enable them to be the 1%.

      In the US, that would be an *alarming* number of people guillotined before the problem would be resolved.

      The problem is far more systemic than you would care to realize.

  2. Re:okay lemme get this straight by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Interesting

    it's russian justice. which is an oxymoron

    a court room merely provides the veneer of impartiality. the state controls the judges, the state controls everything. whatever verdict the state wants, it gets. actual justice is not the point. power and control is

    russia still believes in the strong man mentality. one strong dude has to control all. this is viewed as strength. when of course, this is colossal weakness. many russians understand this. but if they speak out about it, they get jailed, censured, fired or otherwise ostracized. it's sad

    as long as there is a large pool of russians that respect and believe in the idea of the big strong man, russia is doomed to mediocrity and, paradoxically, weakness

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  3. That's because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Note: the french had to do it... REPEATEDLY.

    The French don't do anything properly the first time.

    The problem is far more systemic than you would care to realize.

    Stopping the proles from reproducing would be a better way to start.

  4. Re:Could happen anywhere ! by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Judges routinely accept any intelligent or independant juror being rejected, and AFAIK none will instruct a jury on their [still legal] nullification power

    Not just that; the judge will use misleading language to attempt to make the jurors believe they do not have any jury nullification powers. They tell the jurors that if the defendant did such and such thing that they must follow the law. This isn't strictly false; the law says they may nullify, because the law includes case law, not just what's in the code. So the judge effectively lies to them and gets away with it, which is apparently part of the job... the job of collecting all power to oneself and keeping it.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"