Gannushkina associates check of "Civil Assistance" with her criticism of Prosecutor's Office Law

Svetlana Gannushkina, the Chair of the "Civil Assistance" Committee, said that the today's prosecutor's inspection of the Moscow office of the Committee was caused by her criticism of the Law "On Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today prosecutors have come to check the Moscow offices of "Civil Assistance" and the international non-profit organization (NPO) Transparency International. On the demand of power agents, before February 2, these organizations must submit a number of documents.

The documents demanded by prosecutors from the "Civil Assistance" include personal data on the employees of the Committee, said Gannushkina as quoted by the "Echo Moskvy".

On January 22, the Constitutional Court of Russia held a public hearing on the complaint lodged about the non-constitutionality of certain provisions of the Federal Law "On Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation".

The complaint was filed by a number of Russian NPOs, including the International Society "Memorial", the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", the "Civil Assistance" Committee, as well as by Svetlana Gannushkina personally.

The complainants believe that the powers of the Prosecutor's Office to carry out inspections of legal entities and define, by its sole discretion, the grounds, the frequency and duration of inspections will hinder the work of NPOs, says the website of the "Civil Assistance".

Pavel Chikov, the Chairman of the "Agora" Association of Human rights Organizations, has also associated the above inspections with the process underway at the Constitutional Court.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.