Moscow City Court refutes repeal of NGO Golos' "foreign agent" status
MOSCOW. Sept 11 (Interfax) - The Moscow City Court has denied repealing the recognition of NGO Golos as "a foreign agent" and said it has only repealed a resolution bringing administrative counts against the entity.
"After having checked materials in that case, the arguments of the Russian human rights commissioner and complaints from an NGO Golos representative, a Moscow City Court deputy chairman found that the disputed resolution [which brought administrative charges against Golos] issued by a justice of the peace and the related ruling by a district court judge were subject to repeal and the proceedings on that case were subject to termination," a Moscow City Court spokesman said.
"Some media outlets published incorrect opinions after that decision had been made," he underscored.
"A number of reports said the Moscow City Court had declined to recognize Golos as a foreign agent. Yet that opinion derived from the erroneous understanding of the court order and the erroneous interpretation of the existing legislation," he said.
The processing of the petition by the Russian human rights commissioner and the complaint from a representative of the legal entity Golos "dealt exclusively with the lawfulness and validity of the administrative charges brought against the aforementioned organization under part 1, article 19.34 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses," the spokesman said.
"The resolution expressed the opinion that the actual circumstances and the presented materials did not allow a conclusion to be drawn about the presence of signs of the association's funding from foreign sources, which was a condition required for its recognition as [an organization] carrying out the functions of a foreign agent," he noted.
"However, the resolution issued by the deputy chairman did not and could not solve the question of non-recognition of Golos as a foreign agent. The addition of a particular organization to the register of foreign agents is within the remit of the Russian Justice Ministry and such issues are resolved by a different procedure," the Moscow City Court said.
A petition by Russian Human Rights Ombudsman Ella Pamfilova and a complaint by Ramil Akhmetgaliyev, a representative of the Golos NGO association, were lodged with the Moscow City Court. They requested that the resolution of a justice of the peace which brought administrative charges against the organization be declared unlawful.