• Moscow City & Moscow Region  Human rights defenders   International law   Freedom of association   Harassment of activists

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights has requested an opinion from the Venice Commission, the consultative body on constitutional law at the Council of Europe, on the amendments to the law on NGOs relating to the introduction of the "foreign agent" status, as well as the amendments to Russia's Criminal and Criminal Procedure Code on treason and espionage.

As Sova Centre reports, during the discussion of the report on Russia's fulfilment of its obligations before the Council of Europe as part of the October session of PACE, it was mentioned that in 2012 Russia had passed a series of laws which conflicted with the "minimum standards of the Council of Europe."

The decision to turn to the Venice Commission came about as a result of PACE's consultations with members of Russia's Presidential Council on Human Rights. The Presidential Council gave an unfavourable appraisal of both laws.

The expert assessment of the laws will be conducted as part of the preparation of two scheduled PACE monitoring reports on "Threats to the Rule of Law" and "Strengthening the Protection and Role of Human Rights Defenders" in Council of Europe member states.