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Memorial is engaged in the protection of human rights, not politics

30 April 2013 


Source: HRO.org (info)
After an inspection that lasted three weeks, Ryazan regional prosecutor’s office has formally warned the Ryazan Memorial Society that it is ‘impermisslble to violate the law on non-profit associations.’ Ryazan Memorial has announced it will appeal against the warning in court. 

The chair of Ryazan Memorial, the historian Andrei Blinushov, commented on the situation:

"Based on the results of the inspection, the regional prosecutor’s office has issued the organization with a formal warning that it is ‘impermissible for Ryazan Memorial to engage in political activity.’ Our organization has existed in Ryazan region for more than 20 years and is widely known for its educational and human rights work. We have never engaged in political activity in the past, and are not engaged in it at the present. The work of Ryazan Memorial has always been linked with promoting the rule of law and the rights embodied in the Constitution of the Russian Federation and Russian legislation. The comprehensive inspections of the work of our organization by the Russian Registration Agency and the Ministry of Justice always came to the conclusion that the work of our organization was in compliance with the laws of the Russian Federation.

We are obliged to point out that the right of citizens to create public associations, just as the right, for example, to hold peaceful rallies and demonstrations, which the warning issued by the Prosecutor’s Office interprets as the ‘declared possibility of taking part in political activity,’ are embodied in the Constitution of our country. In this way, we consider the warning of the Prosecutor’s Office to be unlawful and groundless, and we shall contest its provisions in court
."

· For more information about the position of Ryazan Memorial on the issue of the unscheduled mass ‘inspections’ and the harassment of civil society institutions in the country, please see Memorial’s analytical review of this question.

· The formal warning issued by Ryazan regional prosecutor’s office to Ryazan Memorial can be read here

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