15:35, 16 December 2016

Court upholds decision on recognizing International "Memorial" as "foreign agent"

The Zamoskvoretskiy District Court of Moscow has upheld the putting by the Russia's Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of the International "Memorial" into the register of organizations-"foreign agents". The court ruling will be appealed against, said Elena Zhemkova, the executive director of the organization.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 4, it became known that the Russia's MoJ had decided to include the International "Memorial" into the register of "foreign agents".

The initial goal of the International "Memorial" was to preserve the memory about political repression in the country. Now, it is a community of dozens of organizations in Russia (including those in South of Russia and Northern Caucasus), Belarus, Germany, Italy, France, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Ukraine, which are engaged in advocacy and educational work.

Today, the court has announced only the operative (substantive) part of the judgement; therefore, the reasons for the refusal to exclude the International "Memorial" from the registry of "foreign agents" are not yet known, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

Let us remind you that on December 7, the court fined the International "Memorial" by 300,000 roubles for violating the law on "foreign agents". This ruling will also be appealed against, said Ms Zhemkova.

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