The Ministry of Justice will check the center of political repression "Perm-36" for the status of "foreign agent"

The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation will conduct an inspection at the memorial center of political repressions “Perm-36” for the status of “foreign agent”; its date is still unknown. “We have received official notification of the commencement of an investigation for assignment of the status of a foreign agent. We are still finding out exactly when the inspection will begin,” told Andrei Nikitin, press secretary of the autonomous non-profit organization, TASS on Tuesday. The reason for the inspection was a statement to the Perm department of the Ministry of Justice from some concerned citizens. In the summer of 2014, based on a similar statement from a concerned man, Perm-36 was checked for “rehabilitation of Nazism”, but no signs of a crime or offense were found. ANO "Perm-36" has been operating since 2001 on the site of a former colony for political prisoners. Last year, the only Gulag camp-museum became a regional camp; a conflict arose between the employees of the non-profit organization and the regional authorities, which ended with Perm-36 announcing the completion of its projects in the region. The law on “foreign agents” has been in force in Russia since 2013. According to this law, NPOs that receive money from abroad and are also involved in political activities must be included in a special a register of “foreign agents”, which already includes several dozen organizations. Many NGOs on the list dispute their inclusion, either by arguing that their activities are political or by allegations of foreign funding.