Russia: Leading human rights organisation ordered to register as “foreign agent” in unprecedented civil case
12:36, December 13, 2013 | Announcements
Brussels, 12 December 2013. Today ADC Memorial, a leading Russian human rights organisation, was ordered by court to register as a “foreign agent” in an unprecedented civil action brought under the repressive legal regime that entered into force in November 2012. International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) is seriously concerned that this decision, which dealt another harsh blow to the freedom of civil society in Russia, constitutes a new disturbing trend of abusing the Russian civil code to repress human rights defense.
The Leninsky district court of Saint Petersburg ruled against ADC Memorial, an organisation dedicated to protecting the rights of vulnerable groups including children, ethnic minorities, migrants and Roma populations in a civil suit brought by a local prosecutor’s office on “behalf of an undefined group of persons” after an administrative case on similar charges was turned down by court earlier this autumn. The court substantiated the prosecutors’ claim that the organisation had engaged in “political activity” while receiving foreign funding and ordered it to register immediately as a “foreign agent” in accordance with the requirements of the 2012 law.