Site Archive‎ > ‎Freedom of association‎ > ‎Inspections‎ > ‎Moscow‎ > ‎

Memorial takes Moscow prosecutors to court

8 April 2013 


Source: HRO.org (info
On 8 April 2013 the Memorial Human Rights Center filed an appeal at the Zamoskvoretsky district court of Moscow against the actions and decisions of the Moscow prosecutor's office.

Memorial Human Rights Centre lodged a complaint against the unscheduled inspections, which have been carried out by the Moscow prosecutor's office with the participation of experts of the Ministry of Justice and Federal Tax Service and which began on 26 March. The inspectors produced a letter, signed by the Moscow deputy public prosecutor Zakharov, but refused to communicate the reasons for the inspections and their extent. Furthermore, they did not explain to the staff of the organization being inspected their rights under procedural law in the course of the inspections. On 29 March the documents requested by the prosecutors were provided to them.

Memorial Human Rights Centre considers the decision by the prosecutors to carrying out inspections and the actions of the inspectors to be unlawful, since they contradict Articles 21 and 22 of the Federal Law on the Prosecutor's Office, violated the rights of Memorial Human Rights Centre guaranteed by Articles 24 and 30 of the Russian Constitution and Article 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Memorial Human Rights Centre, like the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, considers that the inspections of the prosecutor's office have not been regulated in sufficient detail. Consequently, the provisions of Articles 21 and 22 of the Federal Law on the Prosecutor's Office cannot serve as a basis for them.

For more details see the text of the complaint (in Russian): http://www.memo.ru/uploads/files/968.pdf.

On the same day, April 8, International Memorial Society also appealed to the court with a similar complaint.

This text is based on a translation first published by Memorial Human Rights Centre on 9 April 2013
Comments