Rights group: Tax raid on offices is harrassment

RUSSIAN prosecutors have raided the offices of Amnesty International just three days after the organisation warned that a new law “will be used to target human rights organisations”.

Prosecutors and tax agents searched the Moscow premises of the group in a unannounced operation yesterday.

“It’s a sort of harassment,” said Sergei Nikitin, Russia director of Amnesty International. “This inspection was not planned.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In a statement, Russia’s justice ministry said the audit, along with others carried out on different non-governmental organisations (NGOs), was part of a campaign to check whether its actual activities matched its legally declared activities, and came under the auspice of the new so-called “foreign agents” law.

Reflecting ingrained official suspicions that NGOs receiving foreign funding push an agenda written by foreign governments, last year president Vladimir Putin tightened laws governing their operations, and they now have to register themselves as “foreign agents”.

Supporters of the law argue that it is similar to US legislation, and should bring greater clarity to the operations of NGOs.

Earlier this year the Russian government closed the offices of the US Agency for International Development, saying it was trying to influence politics.

NGOs claim the law has ushered in a wave of oppression aimed at silencing voices critical of the Kremlin. They point out that Russian prosecutors have already declared that they will check 30 to 100 NGOs in every region of the country, and in St Petersburg alone some 100 organisation will be inspected.

Adding to the feeling of persecution has been the presence of cameras from the state-owned television channel NTV on a number of the raids.