29 October 2015, 08:04
In Volgograd, court fines "Youth Centre for Consulting and Training"
The court has pronounced the decision to fine the NGO "Youth Centre for Consulting and Training" 300,000 roubles and to fine its founder Temur Kobaliya 100,000 roubles for violation of the operating procedures for an NGO, recognized as a "foreign agent". Temur Kobaliya insists on the exclusion of his organization from the register of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
On July 13, 2012, the Russian State Duma adopted amendments to the Law "On NPOs", according to which Russian NPOs engaged in "political activities" and financed from abroad are obliged to get registered as "foreign agents". On February 8, 2013, a number of NPOs, including the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", filed complaints to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) about the Law on "foreign agents" adopted in Russia.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Youth Centre was recognized as a "foreign agent" following the results of the audit held in December 2014. On June 10, in Volgograd, activists held pickets in support of the Youth Centre. In July, it was excluded from the register of "foreign agents".
"On October 26, I received a letter from bailiffs, stating that I was fined 100,000 roubles," Temur Kobaliya told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. And he continued: "I was fined for the fact that in the social network 'VKontakte', I invited people to come to the meeting and did not write that my organization was recognized as a 'foreign agent'. The organization itself was fined 300,000 roubles."
According to Temur Kobaliya, the decision on the fines was pronounced after the NGO was excluded from the register of "foreign agents".
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.
Author: Tatiana Filimonova Source: CK correspondent
