The Sakharov Center filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice

The Sakharov Center (SC) filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation in connection with a departmental audit, as a result of which the center was recognized as a "foreign agent" and entered into the appropriate register of non-profit organizations. This was reported to Interfax by the executive director of the Sakharov Center Sergei Lukashevsky.

“We have filed a lawsuit with the Zamoskvoretsky Court against the Ministry of Justice regarding the inspection conducted in December, which we consider illegal,” Lukashevsky said.

Later, the Sakharov Center will also file a lawsuit challenging the inclusion of the center on the Ministry of Justice's list of NPOs as "foreign agents".

Lawyer Elena Pershakova, who represents the organization in court, said that during the check, the Ministry of Justice did not provide documents authorizing the check.

On Monday, February 2, the Sakharov Center published a response from the Ministry of Justice to a letter from the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Lyudmila Alekseeva, in defense of the center, addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Department for Non-Commercial Organizations of the Ministry of Justice substantiated the legitimacy of including the SC in the list of NPO agents by the fact that the center held events “during which criticism of the current legislation of the Russian Federation was voiced.”

The Ministry of Justice included the Sakharov Center on the list of "foreign agents" on 25 December. Currently, the Tagansky Court of Moscow is considering an administrative case against the Sakharov Center, based on a protocol based on the results of an audit by the Ministry of Justice. The maximum fine can be up to 500 thousand rubles.