28 April 2023, 16:13
Court decides to liquidate “SOVA” Centre*
In Moscow, a court pronounced a decision to liquidate the “Sova” Centre*, engaged in dealing with problems of xenophobia and nationalism.
“The formal reason for the liquidation of the ‘Sova’ Centre* became holding of events outside the region of its registration (in our case, Moscow) or participation in such events,” the “Sova” Centre* reported on its website.
The court did not agree with the arguments of the defence that participation in events outside Moscow is not a violation of the law and that the liquidation of the “Sova” Centre* was not an adequate measure. An appeal will be filed against the court’s decision.
The “Sova” Centre* is engaged in dealing with the problems of nationalism and xenophobia, the relationship between religion and society, political radicalism, issues of “(not) rooting of liberal values and (not) observance of human rights” in Russia. The “Sova” Centre* was founded in October 2002 by a group of employees of the “Panorama” Information and Research Centre and the Moscow Helsinki Group, the organization’s website reports.
On December 20, 2022, it became known that the Russian Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit with the Moscow City Court to liquidate the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG). The reason was the participation of the organization in events in other regions. The MHG reported that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) decided to liquidate the organization and ban its activities due to monitoring of trials and appeals to the authorities outside of Moscow. The human rights defenders have emphasized that pressure on them has increased in Russia and there are attempts to marginalize them in the eyes of the society.
*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 27, 2023 at 08:36 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: Caucasian Knot
