MoJ inspects "Legal Initiative"

In Ingushetia, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is checking the Foundation "Legal Initiative", and in Moscow, the autonomous non-commercial organization (ANO) "Legal Assistance-Astrea", a partner organization of the Foundation "Legal Initiative", is being checked. In Ingushetia and Moscow, the checks are unplanned, and officials from the MoJ explain them by stating that the NCO is allegedly engaged in activities of a foreign agent without application for inclusion in the register of foreign agents.

Members of the Foundation "Legal Initiative" report that in its notification, the MoJ has indicated the subject to inspection as "involvement of the organization in activities as an NGO acting as a foreign agent without application for inclusion in the register of foreign agents."

"The MoJ has in advance made a conclusion that the NCO is a 'foreign agent', despite the fact that the 'Astrea' had successfully passed the scheduled inspection in August 2015. Then, in its report, the MoJ wrote that 'no involvement of the organization in political activities in the audited period was revealed'," states advocate Olga Gnezdilova as quoted by the website of the Foundation "Legal Initiative".

"The 'Russian Justice Initiative' (SRJI) and its partner organizations are involved in cases relating to serious human rights violations in Northern and Southern Caucasus, and they represent about 2000 customers in about 300 complaints filed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)," notes the SRJI's website.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the SRJI renders assistance to family members of Marem Alieva, a resident of Ingushetia, who disappeared in September 2015.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.