Russia raids Human Rights Watch office
RUSSIAN authorities have searched the Moscow offices of New-York
based Human Rights Watch as they stepped up their raids against
pro-democracy groups despite growing EU concern.
HRW's Europe and Central Asia department head Rachel Denber said
three representatives from the prosecutor's office and a tax official
had begun what they called "an unplanned inspection" of the Moscow
office early Wednesday.
She added that the Moscow headquarters of
the Civic Assistance refugees centre and of the Transparency
International corruption watchdog had been raided in a similar manner.
"This
is part of a massive, unprecedented wave of inspections of NGOs
(non-governmental organisations) in Russia that is intensifying pressure
on civil society in the wake of the adoption of a number restrictive
laws last year," Denber said by email.
"The scale of these
inspections serves to reinforce the menacing atmosphere for civil
society created by the adoption of last year's laws."
The raids followed President Vladimir Putin's signature of a law
that labelled Russian political organisations with Western funding as
"foreign agents" that required more rigorous checks.
Russian
officials have not specifically linked the raids to the foreign agent
law and they appear part of an in-depth examination into the activities
of non-governmental groups whose work bothers the authorities.
The
authorities began their action last week by moving in against Memorial -
one of the country's most respected rights organisations whose vast
catalogue of Stalin-era repressions is accessed by scholars around the
world.
Groups such as Memorial have refused to change their
registration to that of a "foreign agent" because they argued the
legislation equated them with spies.
The raids have already raised
eyebrows in Europe and threaten to further complicate ex-KGB agent
Putin's uneasy relations with the West.
EU foreign policy chief
Catherine Ashton on Tuesday called the inspections and searches
"worrisome since they seem to be aimed at further undermining civil
society activities in the country".
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