20 March 2017, 23:29
Court agrees not to consider “EcoWatch” lawsuit without Kremlin’s recommendations
The “Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus” (EcoWatch) offered the court, which is considering its lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of Adygea, to wait for a response from the Russian Presidential Administration, which had ten days left to fulfil Mr Putin's order to review the law on foreign agents. The court agreed, giving the MoJ a chance to exclude the “EcoWatch” from the list of foreign agents in the pre-trial order.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in September 2016, the "EcoWatch" was recognized as a foreign agent, and filed a lawsuit against this decision. On February 22, the court postponed the trial for almost a month.
On December 8, 2016, the members of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, at their meeting with the participation of Vladimir Putin, questioned the legality of including the "EcoWatch" into the registry of foreign agents.
Today, the Maikop City Court has agreed, at the request of the “EcoWatch”, to again postpone the consideration of the case, as Andrei Rudomakha, the coordinator of the “EcoWatch”, has reported.
According to his story, the work of his organization is virtually paralyzed – the “EcoWatch” is taking part in six trials, trying to challenge the fines imposed by the MoJ for publishing texts without the label of a foreign agent.
The fact that the court agreed to postpone the trial may be viewed as a gesture of loyalty, Mr Rudomakha believes.
Maxim Olenechev, a member of the NGOs’ Lawyers Club, who is rendering legal assistance to the “EcoWatch”, treats the recognition of the “EcoWatch” as a foreign agent as an act of pressure from the authorities.
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.
Author: Anna Gritsevich Source: CK correspondent
