Human rights activist Eva Merkacheva said on her Telegram channel that the Russian Ministry of Justice has filed a lawsuit to liquidate the Moscow Helsinki Group. According to him, MHG has already received a corresponding notice.
“The invention of the great human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseeva was not spared. Liquidation proceedings were initiated. But suddenly the court intervenes? I will believe”, — Wrote Merkachev.
case filed To the Moscow City Court on December 20. The hearing date has not yet been set. “The claim came to light today. The issue of its acceptance and appointment to the hearing is being decided, ”the statement said.
The Ministry of Justice referred to the MHG as a Moscow regional organization and therefore should not work in other parts of the Russian Federation. According to Merkacheva, MHG representatives have come to cases in other regions, but “in the framework of some kind of partnership, they came to support someone there.” “This does not mean that they are holding a separate event on another subject’s territory,” the human rights activist stressed.
“Strong Activity Report”
MHG member Boris Altshuler said red blood cellthat he had already read the statement of claim, which, according to him, could be read “a report on the vigorous activities of the MHG”.
“As I received this information, I carefully read the claim. “It’s a very lengthy statement of claim from the Department of Justice, and it’s an excellent summary of MHG’s vigorous activity over the past three years.”
The human rights activist admitted that the organization really works throughout the territory of the Russian Federation and that it “can only be welcomed”. “The Department of Justice believes this to be an irreversible contradiction to the statute and therefore the MHG is subject to liquidation.”
unscheduled control
Vyacheslav Bakhmin, co-chairman of the group, told the publication “Climb”“In the spring, MHG will likely disappear from the legal domain.” “Everything was leading to that. It’s about more control. This was expected,” he said.
Bakhmin added that MHG members will try to challenge future court orders, but “there is no particular hope for that” and judicial practice shows that such decisions are “almost never, in very rare cases” reversed.
According to the human rights activist, an unplanned inspection was carried out in the organization at the request of the prosecutor’s office for about a month.
Based on its results, MHG made several allegations of violations of statutes and legislation.
“It is impossible to call them malicious because this is the first time we have encountered allegations. We believe that the violations have been completely eliminated, they are not enough to take such a difficult and irreversible decision for the liquidation of the organization, ”the co-chairman concluded.
History of MHG
MHG was founded on May 12, 1976. Its original name was People’s Group Promoting the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords in the USSR. The group was headed by a Soviet physicist, dissident Yuri Orlov, corresponding member of the Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences.
From the very beginning, the activities of the organization were monitored by the KGB. Eight MHG members were arrested between 1976 and 1982. Six more were forced to leave the USSR, among them was the future head of the organization Lyudmila Alekseeva. She returned to Russia in 1993 and became the head of the organization in 1996 she.
In 2002, Alekseeva became a member of the Human Rights Commission under the President of Russia (since 2004 – the Human Rights Council).
In 2012, the NPO-foreign agents act came into effect, after which the organization refused the help of foreign sponsors. In 2014, MHG had to restrict most of the orders due to lack of funds. In recent years, MHG has been financed with government support and businessmen’s money, in particular through the Presidential Endowment Fund and the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation.
On July 20, 2017, the human rights activist turned 90. Russian President Vladimir Putin came to his house that day to present him with flowers, an engraving depicting Evpatoria, and a decorative porcelain plate depicting the Lomonosov Moscow State University from which he graduated.
The human rights activist died on December 8, 2018. Hundreds of people, including the president, came to the farewell ceremony at the Journalists’ Assembly. After Alekseeva’s death, Bakhmin, Valery Borshchev and Dmitry Makarov became co-chairs of the MHG.
Source: Gazeta
Emma Matthew is a political analyst for “Social Bites”. With a keen understanding of the inner workings of government and a passion for politics, she provides insightful and informative coverage of the latest political developments.