MRDC criticizes conclusions of examination about its political activities

The Leninsky District Court of Voronezh that is considering the complaint lodged by the Media Rights Defence Centre (MRDC) against inclusion thereof in the register of "foreign agents" received the results of the examination of materials and publications of the Centre. Experts revealed political activities in them. At the same time, representatives of the MRDC have questioned the experts' conclusions.

On November 12, a session of the above court considered the results of the psycho-linguistic examination of publications of the centre and statements of its head Galina Arapova in the media, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The conclusions reached by two linguists, a political analyst and a psychologist come down to the fact that the MRDC, and, in particular, Galina Arapova, "waged a continuous criticism of state bodies."

Ms Arapova expressed doubts about the quality of the examination and qualification of the experts.

On November 13, the court session questioned Alexander Sungurov, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor of the Saint Petersburg Branch of Higher School of Economics, and author of the political conclusion for the court, made at the request of the MRDC.

"Professor Sungurov has clearly stated that all he saw on the activities of our centre and in our publications suggests that we are not engaged in political activities, and that we only deal with legal education and legal protection, which is an important and necessary method of civil and public control, as necessary for the defence of human rights, overcoming the legal illiteracy, and improvement of journalists' legal knowledge," said Arapova.

The next session is scheduled for November 17.

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