Committee Against Torture faces fine for breach of foreign-agent law
NIZHNY NOVGOROD. July 20 (Interfax) - The office of the Russian telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor in the Volga Federal District has compiled an administrative offense report concerning the Committee Against Torture, an inter-regional public organization, for its distributing of leaflets which do not mention the organization's foreign-agent status.
On June 26, 2015, the Committee Against Torture held a picket in Nizhny Novgorod as part of the UN International Day in support of victims of torture, the organization's spokesperson said on Monday.
The leaflets handed out during the event failed to stipulate that the material had been published by a nonprofit organization that functions as a foreign agent.
The breach entails an administrative fine of between 100,000 and 300,000 rubles for officials and between 300,000 and 500,000 rubles for legal entities.
Committee Against Torture's spokesman Ivan Zhiltsov told Interfax that on July 24 the organization will hold an inter-regional conference to resolve matters concerning the organization's voluntary winding up.
On January 16 a spokesperson for the Russian Justice Ministry said Committee Against Torture had been put on the register of foreign-agent NPOs.
The decision was made after a Nizhny Novgorod prosecutor complained that the organization had violated the federal laws. In particular, prosecutors claimed that the organization was involved in political activities. Committee Against Torture challenged these claims in courts. The courts upheld the Justice Ministry's decision, and after several unsuccessful attempts to challenge their inclusion on the register the president of Committee Against Torture, Igor Kalyapin, told Interfax that the organization will be wound up on a voluntary basis.
