AI rejects accusations of non-payment of rental fee in Moscow

The Moscow City Property Department has explained the closing of the Russian representative office of the Amnesty International (AI) in Moscow by the fact that the office was inaccurate in paying the due rental fee. However, rights defenders deny this and are ready to go to court, if necessary.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 2, the staff of the AI's office in Moscow could not get into the premises, which appeared to be sealed up. Someone had changed the locks and disconnected the power, said Alexander Artemyev, a staff member.

The Moscow City Property Department asserts that they have revealed "serious violations in rental fee payments," after which "a claim was sent to the AI demanding to repay the debt within one month."

"The allegation that we failed to pay the fees is a lie. This spring, we verified the payments at the Department, and they confirmed that everything was OK, and the rental fee sum presented to us was correct. We paid it regularly; the last payment was for October. We have all the supporting documents," Sergey Nikitin, the head of the AI in Russia, told the "Kommersant" newspaper.

Today, he has added that the AI had sent appeal to the head of the above Property Department asking to unseal the office and let the staff in for work.

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