We’ve already written before about Chelyabinsk Prosecutor office which began an inspection in two organizations: Ural human rights group and Ural democratic fund which are running within Chelyabinsk region.
As for Sverdlovsk region, its Prosecutor office falls back into their old ways: looking for «foreign agents» among NGO, conducting human right activities.
Yet again Prosecutor’s officers pay attention to non-commercial partnership «Assistance in legal defense «Legal Basis». Prosecutor office represented by deputy prosecutor of Leninsky area, demanded to bring charter documents of organization in the last two years.
We remind you that non-commercial partnership «LEGAL BASIS» had already been checked by Prosecutor office of Sverdlovsk region. The inspection was over. Prosecutor Sergey Okhopkov didn’t find any violations but he wrote out warning on prohibition on law violation to Aleksey Sokolov. This warning was challenged in Verkh-Isetsky court of Yekaterinburg and satisfied by the first instance court in the end.
On May 21st 2014 Aleksey Sokolov received the mail with document signed by deputy prosecutor I. V. Perestoronin where he had demanded Aleksey Sokolov to show up on May 22d 2014 to Prosecutor office of Yekaterinburg. He had to carry copies of documents which were notarized IMPRPOPERLY. Also a list of papers was attached to the mail such as statement says to include our organization into list of «foreign agents’ organization».
Thus prosecutor office demands that human rights defenders to come over and register themselves as «foreign agents». Nonsense of this situation is that according to LAW only Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation has a right to declare any organization as «foreign agent» and only with expression of will of organization itself.
Non-commercial partnership «Legal Basis» do its statutory activities focused on protection of human rights in correctional facilities. Exactly on this type of work organization gets sponsorship from foreign as well as Russian sources. In particular, organization have won Presidential grant upon the project «Public service for penitentiary control in the Ural Federal Region» which is funded by Federal Budget. Thus, the Russian Federation has already acknowledged the activity of organization to be significant in the field of human rights and not to be aimed at changes into State Policy. Also, the activity is declared lawful and based on the Constitution and the European Convention of Human Rights. Last mentioned directly guarantee basic human rights of people, including someone who is custody. Among them — freedom from torture or cruel. inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment, liberty of speech, liberty of conscience and religion etc.
Thus, if to take the side of Prosecutor office, it must be admitted that either activity of non-commercial partnership «LEGAL BASIS» is focused to change State Policy or State itself puts up money for changing its Policy which is nonsense.
The most interesting thing is that request from Leninskaya Prosecutor office upon bringing documents was received at the same time when we handed over all the documents to Ministry of Justice. It made impossible to bring them to Prosecutor office. Was it done carelessly or on purpose… we can only guess…
Human rights defenders of the Urals.
