A search is underway at the head of "Voices-Povolzhye" in Samara

A search began in the apartment of the head of the association for the protection of the rights of voters “Voice-Povolzhye” Lyudmila Kuzmina, as well as in the office of the NGO on the morning of February 5, writes “Mediazona.

According to Kuzmina, investigators went to her apartment around 8 am. Investigators are seizing electronic media and phone books.

The search warrant states that it is being carried out as part of a criminal case under the first part of Article 199 of the Criminal Code (tax evasion from an organization) in connection with the submission of false tax payments. The maximum penalty under this article is two years in prison.

In 2014, the organization underwent a tax audit, Kuzmina told Mediazona. Officials considered the grant received before 2012 from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to be income and not a donation and demanded that the NPO pay 2 million 222 thousand rubles. Kuzmina appealed the claim in the arbitration court. The first substantive meeting will be held on January 29.

In addition, in December 2014, the prosecutor’s office conducted an unscheduled inspection at the office of the Samara “Voice” at the request of the head of the local unit of the “national liberation movement.” According to her, the response from the prosecutor's office stated that the organization does not receive foreign funding. Despite this, the Ministry of Justice demanded that she pay an administrative fine in the amount of 300 thousand rubles for failing to include herself in the register of “foreign agents.”