23:59, 12 February 2020

Court upholds decision on fine imposed on "International Memorial"

A court hearing on the appeal of the "International Memorial" on February 12, 2020. A drawing by Stas Metelsky https://www.facebook.com/Memorial.International/photos/a.263710967004975/3559049354137770/?type=3&theater

The Moscow court dismissed the appeal of the "International Memorial" for a fine of 300,000 roubles, which was imposed after the inspection by the FSB Department for Ingushetia. Human rights defenders said they would challenge the decision at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that as of February 6, the court considered 24 out of 28 protocols drawn up against the "International Memorial", the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and leaders of the NGO. The amount of the fines imposed based on the above protocols reached 4.7 million roubles. The court refused to impose a fine only under one of the protocols drawn up against Yan Rachinsky, the chairman of the board of the "International Memorial", for the lack of marking of a "foreign agent" in the NGO's blog on the website of the "Ekho Moskvy".

Let us remind you that the "Memorial" was included in the register of foreign agents in 2014. All attempts to challenge the decision on inclusion in the register in courts were unsuccessful. It was not explained why the FSB Department for Ingushetia was involved in checking the social networks of the "Memorial", noted Timur Akiev, the head of the "Memorial" Ingush office.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 12, 2020 at 08:08 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.