The deprivation of Jennifer Gaspar's residence permit was recognized by the St. Petersburg City Court as legal

The St. Petersburg City Court upheld the annulment of the residence permit of US citizen Jennifer Gaspard.

Gaspar lived in Russia for 10 years, she and her husband, lawyer Ivan Pavlov, who now represents her interests, have a minor daughter. Together with her husband, Gaspar worked at the Freedom of Information Foundation, which was engaged in advising Russian non-profit organizations, helping Russian NGOs to work more competently and efficiently. The activities of the Fund were virtually paralyzed by the Russian authorities after the organization was included in the register of "foreign agents".

On August 5 this year, Gaspard received a notification from the Federal Migration Service for St. Petersburg, which stated that her residence permit in Russia was canceled and she must immediately leave the country. The human rights activist was forced to leave Russia with her daughter.

On August 19, 2014, the Frunzensky District Court of St. Petersburg recognized this decision of the Federal Migration Service as legal. The decision of the migration service was based on a certain conclusion of the FSB, which, in particular, states that Jennifer Gaspard allegedly “advocates forcibly changing the foundations of the constitutional order of Russia, by other actions creates a threat to state security.”

Gaspar challenged the decision of the Frunze Court in the St. Petersburg City Court. During the meeting on December 16, the court asked the FSB to present the same secret document, which refers to the security threat posed by Gaspar to the state. Since the conclusion has a secrecy stamp, all participants in the process took a subscription not to disclose information constituting a state secret.

However, the document itself was not presented at today's meeting. “Instead of a document, they showed a blank extract, which presents the conclusion that Jennifer is a security risk. But the motivational part was not presented - the court did not want to. Having received the extract, the court said that this was enough,” Pavlov said after the meeting.

Now Pavlov and Gaspar will challenge the decision in the Supreme Court.