The HRC presented an expert opinion on the case against Cherevatenko

Experts announced the inconsistency of the Constitution of an article about the "malicious evasion" from the implementation of the Law on "foreign Agents"

The Presidential Council for Human Rights (SPC) announced the inconsistency of the Constitutional norms of the article of the Criminal Code of Russia about "malicious evasion" from the implementation of the Law on "foreign agents" (Article 330.1). The experts of the HRC came to this conclusion by analyzing the criminal case against this article against the head of the organization "Women Don" by Valentina Cherevatenko.

According to human rights activists , the concept of “malice” is of an appraisal nature and does not have a legislative definition, which puses a threat of a violation of the suspect’s right to know what he is accused of, enshrined in the European convention on the protection of human rights and freedoms. Experts noted that the Supreme Court indicated the Supreme Court, but the deputies ignored these comments, in inaccuracies in the law on the criminalization of the activities of “foreign agents” when discussing the document in the State Duma.

The criminal case against Cherevatenko was instituted in June 2016. According to the investigation, the Don Woman Foundation was engaged in “political activity” and received foreign financing, but the human rights activist “deliberately” did not apply for its inclusion in the register of “foreign agents”. This is the first criminal case in Russia, instituted under an article on "malicious evasion" from the implementation of the Law on NPO - "foreign agents".

Cherevatenko herself rejects the charges of foreign financing of his fund and connects the criminal prosecution with the Civil Minsk project, the purpose of which was to monitor the implementation of the Minsk agreements by the parties to the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Earlier, human rights activists from several countries signed an appeal in support of Cherevatenko. The European Union also acted in its defense .