Human rights activists opposed the amendments of the Ministry of Justice in the Law on NPOs

A group of Russian human rights activists criticized the legislative determination of the political activity of non -profit organizations proposed by the Ministry of Justice. This is reported by Interfax.

"As a result of the adoption of this bill, independent NPOs can be completely destroyed," the statement said. He was signed by the head of the Moscow Helsinki group Lyudmila Alekseeva, head of the Civil Promotion Committee Svetlana Gannushkin, head of the "Committee for Prevention of torture" Igor Kalyapin, one of the leaders of the Center "Memorial" Oleg Orlov, leader of the Lev Ponomarev and others rights movement and others.

Almost any public work has been declared political activity, and "the authorities want, as in totalitarian Soviet times, only those who have been depressed by the Soviet trade unions that were driven belts of power remain," the document says.

According to human rights activists, in the bill of the Ministry of Justice, any activities of the NPO are declared political. Thus, a "total ban on financing the activities of NPOs from abroad is established, since any NPO will become a foreign agent." At the same time, NPOs will not be able to receive help from NGOs in Russia, "since Russian business will not finance NPOs engaged in" political activity. "

On Tuesday, with a sharp criticism of the bill , members of the Russian Pen-Center acted . “We believe that the new restrictions on the activities of public organizations are lawless, immoral and harmful to our society,” the statement says. “We demand from the leadership of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation to withdraw the proposed amendments.”

On January 22, the Ministry of Justice published the amendments prepared by him to the Law on Non -Profit Organizations, clarifying the concept of political activity . According to the document, NPOs are recognized as participating in political activities in Russia if it participates in the organization and conduct of rallies, demonstrations, processions and pickets, public discussions and performances. In addition, if amendments are adopted, the public appeal of NGOs to state bodies and officials, as well as "other actions that affect the adoption, amendment, cancellation of laws or other legal acts, will be considered political.

As well as political activity, "distribution will be regarded, including using modern information technologies, assessments of decisions made by state bodies and their policy."

In addition, the political activity of an NPO is implied in the form of participation "in activities aimed at obtaining a certain result in the elections, referendum, in observing the elections, referendum, in the formation of election commissions, referendum commissions", as well as "in the activities of political parties."

In addition, it is proposed to recognize the “implementation of activities aimed at the formation of socio-political views and beliefs, including by conducting and publishing public opinion polls or other sociological research”, the involvement of citizens, including minors, in this activity and its financing.