They are looking for terrorists in Russian NPOs

The prosecutor's office checks dozens of non -profit organizations receiving foreign grants

From Monday, Moscow inter -district prosecutors, referring to the instructions of the Prosecutor General and Prosecutor's Office of the capital, “provided work” by a number of NPOs, demanding as soon as possible to provide a huge number of documents about activities ...

From Monday, Moscow Interdistrict Prosecutor's Office, referring to the instructions of the Prosecutor General and Prosecutor's Office of the capital, “provided work” by a number of NPOs, demanding as soon as possible to provide a huge number of documents on the activities of organizations. How many non -profit organizations and by what principle are checked - it is unclear, numbers from 20 to 100 are called in the reception of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Moscow Alexander Music (who took control of the control) the exact figure of “New” was difficult to name.

“Requests have gone completely different organizations that work in different areas. They are united only by the fact that they all have any foreign financing. In addition to human rights, there are, for example, the Institute of Economics of the city, the center of fiscal policy, “achievements of young”, “sustainable development”, ”said Elena Topoleva, director of the agency of social information.

The explanation of the audit on the website of the Moscow prosecutor’s office is a strange message dated Tuesday evening: “The prosecutor's office of the city in a number of non -profit organizations began to verify the implementation of the Federal Law“ On Non -Profit Organizations ”in order to study law enforcement practice that arose in the last years in this legislation.”

Human rights activists, "to whom they came", are surprised by how "law enforcement practice is being studied." “We also received a fax with a request to submit documents to the prosecutor's office. Due to the fact that there were some inaccuracies and incorrect information in it, we responded with an official letter to our inter -district prosecutor's office with a request to clarify the information and send a new request to us. If we consider the answer sufficient and reasonable, we will provide information, there is nothing secret in it. Until they called and wrote to us. We were given two hours to collect, ”said Elena Panfilova, director of the Russian branch of Transparency International.

“They came to us in the evening in the afternoon on Monday, and the documents had to be submitted at 11.00 on Tuesday. Three or four before late at night, all these documents were copied on a photocopy. It was also unpleasant that they came with a policeman, ”adds Elena Topoleva.

“As we prepare the documents, we provide. Now it goes into the category of routine, when the next documents will be demanded every day. Naturally, this means that our accounting department cannot work normally, someone needs to regularly travel to the prosecutor’s office, which is not very close to us. A lot of technical inconvenience, ”says Daniil Meshcheryakov, a program coordinator of the Moscow Helsinki group.

It was surprised by why it was the prosecutor’s office, and not the Ministry of Justice, who was supposed to oversee them. “According to the law on non -profit organizations, the Ministry of Justice exercises the function of monitoring them. However, formally, according to the Law on the Prosecutor's Office, she has the right to conduct inspections not only in the event of a crime, but also in the order of supervision of the implementation of the law. At the same time, there are even imperfect, but well -defined procedures - for example, the verification should be warned in writing in five working days. On the other hand, there is a law that protects the rights of legal entities during the audit - the famous law, which President Medvedev actively promoted to reduce the pressure on the business. But the prosecutor’s checks are not regulated by this law. According to the law on the prosecutor's office of clear rules governing its verification, there is no, ”Yuri Djibladze, president of the Center for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights, explained.

“Formally, the prosecutor’s office really has the right to hold them,” said Alexander Music, Moscow Ombudsman, to which human rights activists turned for help. The musician publicly turned to the prosecutor of the capital, Yuri Semin, asking to explain the reasons for the verification circumstances: why do the heads of organizations require a huge number of documents, and in some cases they offer to come to “give explanations”; Why are the deadlines from less than a day to less than three hours, and thereby "representatives of the NGOs are obviously put in the situation" non -fulfillment of the requirements of the prosecutor. "

The prosecutor has the right to “call officials and citizens to explain about violations of laws”, thus, NPOs are considered to be considered violating the law even before the start of the audit.

Almost half of the required documents can be independently obtained by the prosecutor's office in authorized state bodies, and “with such an organization of inspections, both federal legislation and orders of the Prosecutor General itself, regulating the procedure for organizing the verification of legal entities are violated.”

Most human rights activists perceive the situation as a pressure campaign at NGOs receiving Western grants. According to Panfilova, versions, why this is happening now, "you can throw a hundred pieces."

There are dangerous signals. According to Yuri Djibladze, in one NPO, the inspectors said that the other day there would be some important meeting to combat terrorism, and the task was set to look at financial flows and the possible support of terrorists abroad. Another organization said that its documents will also be sent to the Ministry of Justice, the tax and the FSB.