A Moscow court has fined the Memorial human rights organization 600,000 rubles ($8,900) for not complying with the controversial “foreign agents” law, news agency TASS reported Friday.
Memorial was warned at the end of June that two articles on its website should include the “foreign agent” label. Memorial, an NGO that advocates the rehabilitation of victims of Soviet repressions, argued that the two articles were published by its sister organization that was not declared a foreign agent and were thus exempt from the law.
The Justice Ministry insisted that the relationship between the two organizations requires that their materials be labeled, the Vedomosti newspaper reported Friday.
President Vladimir Putin signed the so-called foreign agents law in 2012, requiring that all NGOs which receive funding from abroad and are engaged in political activity to declare that their materials were produced by a “foreign agent,” a term widely associated in Russia with espionage. The law has been broadly criticized for its loose definition of what constitutes “political activity.”
As of Friday, 88 NGOs have been declared foreign agents, according to the Justice Ministry's registry.
Memorial was founded in 1989 as a historical and civil rights society that concentrated on recording and publishing the totalitarian history of the Soviet Union. It operates in numerous Russian regions as well as across former Soviet states.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.
