GENEVA, November 19. /TASS/. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) calls on Russia to annul or revise the law on foreign agents, since it is used against civil society organizations and the mass media, Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Liz Throssell said on Friday, commenting on the Russian Prosecutor-General’s legal action to shut down the Memorial civil rights center (recognized as a foreign agent NGO in Russia).
"We are concerned that legal action is under way in Russia seeking to close down Memorial, among the country’s most respected human rights groups," she said. "We urge the Russian authorities to abolish the "foreign agents" law or substantially amend it so it is in line with the country’s human rights obligations."
"Since 2012, the law has been repeatedly modified and has been used against civil society and media organisations, journalists and individual human rights defenders and bloggers, among others," she noted, adding that many of them have been "heavily fined for the slightest regulatory violation, with some forced into liquidation."
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office earlier lodges a lawsuit with the Russian Supreme Court demanding the closure of the Memorial Center for repeated blatant violations of the "foreign agents" law.
International Memorial was listed as a foreign agent in 2016. For several years Russian courts have repeatedly fined the organization for violating the "foreign agents" law.
Under the law on foreign agent NGOs passed in Russia in 2012, a non-government organization is recognized as a foreign agent if it receives money or property from foreign states, international and foreign organizations, and foreign citizens and is involved in political activities in Russia representing foreign countries’ interests. It does not outlaw such organizations but binds them to get listed in a special register of the Russian justice ministry.