 Source: HRO.org (info) Prosecutors in Novocherkassk region are demanding that the city court force the non-profit Women of the Don to register as a ‘foreign agent’, Grani.ru reports. The case is being heard on Thursday 31 October 2013 by deputy chair of the Novocherkassk city court, Natalya Kalashnikova. The suit was submitted on behalf of an ‘unlimited group of people’. At the same time, the prosecutors found it hard to say exactly whose rights had been violated by the NGO which has refused to register as a ‘foreign agent’. ‘Today I even feel somewhat awkward about the fact that, thanks to the incompetence of the prosecutors of Novocherkassk, we have been raised to the ranks of those real, classical human rights defenders who are now being persecuted and whose names are well-known throughout the world,’ Valentina Cherevatenko, head of the NGO, said. ‘It is something we could really only dream about.’ At the beginning of March, the Women of the Don were inspected by prosecutors, the FSB, the Anti-Extremism Centre, tax inspectorate, and other agencies. On the basis of the inspection, the Prosecutor’s Office issued a notice to the organization, and also brought three administrative charges against the organization and its founders. The NGO responded by sending a letter to the prosecutors explaining that it did not engage in political activity. Nonetheless, the prosecutors were not satisfied with the arguments provided by the NGO. |
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