Court orders Memorial Human Rights Center to register as “foreign agent”

On May 23, 2014, the ZamoskvoretzkyDistrict Court of Moscow heard on the merits the appeal lodged by the Human Rights Center (HRC) Memorial against a PublicProsecutor’s warning of April 2013 requiring the NGO to register as a “foreign agent” under Russia’s“Foreign Agents” Law. However, Judge ElenaPerepechina rejected the appeal, rulingthat HRC Memorial had engaged in pretty vague “political activity”. HRCMemorial will appeal the decision before a higher court.

It is also extremely worrying that the decision cameon the same day as the adoption by the Russian Duma (lower house of Parliament)of provisions that will allow the Ministry of Justice to register NGOs as “foreign agents” atits own initiative, without a court decision. The provisions will enter intoforce when passed by the Federation Council (the upper house) and signed by thePresident.

“Forcing one of the most important Russian human rightsorganisation that fought for the rights of Russian citizens already underSoviet days to declare themselves as ‘foreign agent’ is shameful. Is claimingrights contained under the Russian Constitution really a foreign interest? Anysociety can be proud of organisations such as the HRC Memorial with its steadyand principled support to human rights over decades”, OMCT Secretary GeneralGerald Staberock said today.

TheObservatory recalls that the RussianLaw on Non-Profit Organisations in its current version imposed all NGOs receiving funds from foreign sources for any kind of“political activities” (defined as anything likely to “influence public opinionin order to change the policy”) to register as “foreign agents” or faceadministrative and civil sanctions. On April 8, 2014, the Russian Constitutional Court ruled that the law wasrespectful of the Constitution arguing the absence of any legal or constitutional grounds for contendingthat the term “foreign agent” had negative connotations and therefore that the obligation to register as a foreign agent would not prevent NGOsfrom carrying out their activities. The Observatory has repeatedly called for the abrogation of that law,which blatantly violates international human rights standards.

On April 8, 2014, the SaintPetersburg City Court upheld that the Anti-Discrimination Centre (ADC)“Memorial”, an NGO at the forefront of the fight against all forms ofdiscrimination, was performing the functions of a “foreign agent” by submittinga report on police abuses to the UN Committee Against Torture, following unfair proceedings. Subsequently theNGO refused to register under this unfair label and decided to liquidate itsstructure and continue its work without registration in the Russian Federation.

“The decision on the HRC Memorial appeal and the amendment to the foreignagent law reflect the current climate in Russia, where the legislation everyday closes another window of free expression. Over the last months we saw newlaws introduced and speedily adopted to allow the closure of independent blogsand media without any judicial review or criminalisethe repeated violation of the already restrictive rules on public assemblies”, FIDH President KarimLahidji said. “Human rights monitoring and the defence of freedoms aremore needed than ever”.

TheObservatory reminds the Russian authorities that the United Nations Declarationon Human Rights Defenders provides that everyone has the right, individuallyand in association with others, “at the national and international levels […]to form, join and participate in non-governmental organizations, associationsor groups” (Article 5) and “to solicit, receive and utilize resources for theexpress purpose of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamentalfreedoms through peaceful means” (Article 13).