On top of the harassment ADC Memorial was facing since early 2013, when hundreds of NGOs were submitted to arbitrary inspections for several weeks - thereby largely paralysing the work of the organisation - ADC Memorial has now become the first NGO facing both administrative and civil proceedings on the basis of the law on so-called "foreign agents".
The main "offence" ADC Memorial would have allegedly committed would be the submission of an alternative report to the United Nations (UN) Committee Against Torture (CAT) in November 2012, with the support of FIDH. The Prosecutor argues that ADC Memorial is involved in political activities and receives foreign funding, and that it should therefore register as a ‘foreign agent’. He further claims that ADC Memorial’s report entitled Roma, migrants, activists: victims of police abuse is allegedly of political nature and can reach a group of ‘unidentified citizens’, whose interests must be protected through the registration of ADC Memorial as a ‘foreign agent’. These unfounded accusations are even more arbitrary since the report in question was written and presented before the introduction of the changes into the Law on NGOs to include that NGOs carrying out "political activities" shall be registered as foreign agents.
This harassment is part of an unprecedented campaign against the organisation. Over the past months, ADC Memorial has indeed been facing four cases brought by: the Prosecutor of the Admiralty District of St Petersburg (based on the Administrative Code); the Prosecutor’s Office of the Admiralty District of St Petersburg (based on the Code on Civil Procedure); the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM); and the Federal Service on Customers’ Rights Protection and Human Well-being Surveillance (RosPotrebNadzor).
On April 30, 2013, the Prosecutor of the Admiralty District of St Petersburg had brought the administrative case against ADC Memorial on the basis of Article 19.34, part 1 and 2 (i.e. failing to register as a "foreign agent" and not placing the status of ‘foreign agent’ on its publications) of the Administrative Code. This was preceded by an inspection of the premises of the organisation.
Alongside, the civil case, which was heard on September 23, 2013 at the Leninsky District Court of St Petersburg and was observed by a delegate mandated by the Observatory, was filed on July 12, 2013 by the Prosecutor’s Office on behalf of the above-mentioned group of ‘unidentified citizens’. At the September-23 hearing, the lawyer of ADC Memorial was able to submit preliminary remarks, arguing that no group of "unidentified citizens" could be affected by the fact that ADC Memorial was not registered as a "foreign agent"; that the Ministry of Justice could not be represented by the official of the Prosecutor’s Office at the hearing; and that the right to formulate critical assessments about the democratic institutions was protected by the Russian Constitution and relevant international conventions ratified by Russia. However, all these remarks were disregarded by the court. In addition, to justify his accusations, the Public Prosecutor alleged in the course of that hearing that the report of ADC Memorial criticising the use of torture and inhuman treatment by police officials was "calling for a change of national legislation", which was to be considered as a political activity.
After both parties finished to submit their arguments, the Judge asked the defendants to leave the courtroom but the representative of the Public Prosecutor was allowed to stay inside, which puts into question the respect of fair trial standards.
Interestingly, on September 24, 2013, the Russian Government sent a reply to the UN CAT before which ADC Memorial’s report, Roma, migrants, activists: victims of police abuse, had been presented. In its response, the Russian Government asserts that "the conclusions about the political nature of the Memorial Anti-Discrimination Centre were drawn on the basis of a comprehensive review of the facts (including the organization’s official website, adcmemorial.org) and were not related to the report submitted by Memorial to the Committee against Torture". This reply directly contradicts the whole strategy of the prosecution, which accuses ADC Memorial of conducting political activities mainly on the basis of that report.
"The organisation is now simultaneously facing two trials: the next hearing on the civil charges will be heard on October 14, when a verdict is expected, while another hearing related to the case on administrative charges will be heard on October 7 before the same court, targeting both ADC Memorial and its Director, Ms. Olga Abramenko. We are deeply concerned about the ongoing judicial harassment against ADC Memorial, which only aims at sanctioning its human rights activities, and notably its reports on human rights violations. We call for a strong reaction of the international community to denounce this unprecedented wave of harassment on the basis of the law on so-called ’foreign agents’", FIDH President Karim Lahidji said today.
"The cases brought against ADC Memorial are simply evidence of the escalating atmosphere of harassment against NGOs in the Russian Federation and aim at delegitimising and paralysing their work", said OMCT Secretary General Gerald Staberock. "Last week, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council adopted a strong resolution calling for an end to acts of harassment or reprisals against human rights defenders who cooperate with the UN, despite opposition by Russia, among other States. It is now time for Russia to abide by this resolution and prohibit all forms of intimidation against people for their work to promote human rights or ensure accountability for violations at the international level", he added.