Russia Opens 'Foreign Agent' Case against Vote Monitor
Russia on Tuesday opened a legal case against top vote monitoring group Golos (Voice) after it failed to declare foreign funding and its status as "foreign agent" under a controversial new law.
The move comes as the authorities carry out a wide-ranging crackdown on NGOs that has included raids by prosecutors that sparked international concern.
The justice ministry accused Golos and its executive director Lilia Shibanova of receiving foreign funding but failing to declare itself as a "foreign agent" as required by the new law criticized as a throwback to the Soviet past.
The high-profile group could be fined up to 500,000 rubles ($16,000) and its executive director up to 300,000 rubles ($9,600).
"The group receives foreign funding and carries out political activities in Russia, thus it fulfills the functions of a foreign agent," the ministry said in a statement.
The first use of the Soviet-sounding charge against a prominent group came after Russian prosecutors carried out an unprecedented wave of searches of more than 100 NGOs including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Activists linked the detailed searches to the new law, although Russia insisted they were routine.
Golos, which has reported widespread irregularities in recent parliamentary and presidential polls, denied Tuesday that it received any foreign funding in the period under consideration.
"Undoubtedly Golos does not recognize itself as a foreign agent," deputy executive director Grigory Melkonyants told the Interfax news agency.
USAID, the U.S. agency for international development, used to provide significant funding to Golos but has been banned from working in Russia.
Ahead of parliamentary elections in 2011, Putin compared groups that received international funding to monitor polls to Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus Christ.
Source: Agence France Presse
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