Volgograd: Youth Consulting and Training Centre fined for working without registration as "foreign agent"

The Magistrate Court of the Krasnooktyabrskiy District of Volgograd has fined the Youth Consulting and Training Centre by 300,000 roubles for its activities without getting registered as a "foreign agent". Activists of the non-profit organization (NPO) intend to appeal against the imposed fine.

The law "On Foreign Agents", adopted by the State Duma of the Russian   Federation on July 13, 2012, demands from the NPOs, funded from abroad and engaged in political activities, to acquire the status of a "foreign agent". The initiative was criticized by activists of human rights organizations, who tried to challenge the law, but the Constitutional Court declared it to be compliant with the Russian Constitution. On February 8, 2013, a number of NPOs, including the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", filed a complaint against the law to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

The above fine was imposed on March 3 under Article 19.34 of the Russian Administrative Code (violation of the order of activities of an NPO, acting as a foreign agent), said Temur Kobaliya, the head of the above Youth Centre.

"The court has treated the holding of the first and second Georgian-Russian Forums as political activity. Secondly, we were fined for taking part in the 8^th Human Rights School in 2014 in Volgograd, and for publishing a booklet for young people about human rights. I think that we should not be upset about it now. Together with our colleagues from the Human Rights Resource Centre we are definitely going to appeal against the court decision, and, if necessary, we'll go as far as the ECtHR," Temur Kobaliya told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

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