The
Observatory has been informed about the designation of Memorial Human
Rights Defence Center (HRDC “Memorial” or Memorial Centre), a
member organisation of FIDH, as a “foreign agent”. HRDC
“Memorial” was founded on June 14, 2022, by a team of friends and
former employees of the Memorial Human Rights Centre (Memorial HRC),
in response to the liquidation of the organisation on December 29,
2021. Memorial HRC was founded in 1993 and became one of the first
human rights non-profit organisations in modern-day Russia. Memorial
HRC compiled and maintained a list of political prisoners based on
the definition endorsed by PACE resolution 1900. It collected
information on, monitored, supported, organised campaigns around, and
legally and financially assisted victims of politically motivated
criminal prosecution and their families. Memorial HRC’s priorities
were violations committed by security services, including unlawful
use of force and torture, protection of freedom of speech and
assembly, violence against women, discrimination, protection of
procedural rights, and protection of the interests of non-profit
organisations.
On
February 2, 2024, the Russian Ministry of Justice declared HRDC
“Memorial” a “foreign agent” on their website. The
designation of persons and entities as “foreign agents” entails a
series of obligations: “foreign agents” are required to submit
financial reports every three months, carry out annual mandatory
audits, and any information published or disseminated by such
entities has to contain a reference indicating that it has been
published or disseminated by a “foreign agent”.
Any
violation of these rules results in a fine, and after a third
warning, authorities can initiate criminal proceedings.
The
Observatory recalls that on November 17, 2012, the Federal Law “On
Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation
Regarding Regulation of Non-Profit Organisations Performing the
Functions of a Foreign Agent”
of
20.07.2012 № 121-FZ (Law on NPOs) entered into force. On February
6, 2013, 11 non-profit
organisations,
including Memorial HRC,
filed an application before the European Court of Human Rights
(ECtHR),
claiming that the law affected their rights guaranteed under Article
11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Freedom of assembly
and association).
Since the application before the ECtHR was lodged, all 11
organisations were declared “foreign agents”, including Memorial
HRC, which was added to the register of “foreign agents” by the
Ministry of Justice on July 21, 2014.
In
November 2016, after several fines and warnings from state bodies,
Memorial HRC denied on its official website that the organisation was
a “foreign agent”, denounced the Law on NPOs as contrary to the
Russian Constitution and announced that they would appeal their
inclusion on the said register to the European Court of Human Rights.
The ECtHR found the measures imposed by Russian authorities contrary
to freedom of assembly and association but its judgment was delivered
on June 14, 2022, when Memorial HRC had already been liquidated and
while Russia had already withdrawn from the Council of Europe and
ceased to comply with the Court's decisions.
Between
September and December 2019, the Russian Federal Service for
Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media
(Roskomnadzor) drew up eight reports on Memorial HRC and its leader.
The reports outlined administrative violations, specifically the
absence of the "foreign agent" labelling on the
organisation's social networks and on its websites.
The
Tverskoy District Court of the city of Moscow examined all the cases
of administrative violations and found the organisation and its
leader guilty and fined them from 100,000 to 400,000 rubles
(approximately 1,000 to 4,000 Euros). The judgments were appealed
before the Moscow Municipal Court, but they remained in effect as the
court rejected the appeals. In total, the organisation and its leader
paid 1,600,000 rubles (approximately 16,135 Euros), which were
collected with the assistance of crowdfunding.
On
November 8, 2021, the Moscow City Prosecutor’s Office filed an
administrative lawsuit to the Moscow City Court to liquidate Memorial
HRC, on the grounds of systematic violations of the “foreign
agents” legislation. The Prosecutor’s Office also pointed out
that some of the publications on the organisation’s website “were
aimed at forming an idea among the general public that terrorist and
extremist activity is acceptable”. On December 29, 2021, the Moscow
City Court upheld
the claim of the Moscow City Prosecutor’s Office. On April 5, 2022,
the First Appellate Court of Moscow dismissed
Memorial HRC’s appeal and the decision to liquidate Memorial HRC
became final.
Despite
the liquidation, Memorial has been reborn as the Memorial Human
Rights Defence Centre and continues to work for the protection of
human rights. In 2022, together with the Centre for Civil Liberties
and Ales
Bialiatski
of the Belarusian organisation Viasna, the Memorial received the
Nobel
Peace Prize.
The
Observatory further recalls that on February 2, 2024, Oleg
Orlov,
co-chairman of the HRDC “Memorial” and prominent human rights
defender, was also declared
“foreign agent” in person. On February 27, 2024, the Golovinsky
District Court of Moscow sentenced
Oleg Orlov to two years and six months of imprisonment on politically
motivated charges of “repeatedly discrediting” Russia’s armed
forces for his article « Russia: they wanted fascism, they got
it » (“Russie
: ils voulaient le fascisme, ils l’ont eu”)
published on the French blogging platform Le
Club de Mediapart
on November 13, 2022.
The
Observatory condemns the inclusion of HRDC “Memorial” on the
register of “foreign agents” and calls on the Russian authorities
to immediately withdraw the organisation as well as Oleg Orlov’s
name from this register and to refrain from criminalising them for
their peaceful human rights work.
The
Observatory further calls on the authorities in Russia to guarantee
in all circumstances the rights to freedom of expression and of
association, as enshrined in international human rights standards,
and particularly in Articles 19 and 22, respectively, of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
|