On Wednesday, July 27, the Presnensky Court of Moscow satisfied the claim of the Russian Ministry of Justice for the capital to liquidate the non-profit association “Golos”.

“Satisfy the administrative claim of the Ministry of Justice in full, liquidate the Golos association and exclude it from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities,” the court’s decision states.

The liquidation procedure of the association must be completed within six months.

The statement of claim of the Ministry of Justice (available to Vedomosti) states that the organization did not bring its charter into compliance with civil law. The Ministry of Justice also indicated that the association conducts political activities under the guise of the “Voice” movement and was brought to administrative responsibility three times, which is a systematic violation of the law on NGOs.

Lawyer Maxim Krupsky, who represented the interests of the association, says that the decision will be appealed. According to him, in the event of liquidation, the organization does not have to pay fines: “But here the question is fundamental - if we do not appeal the decision, it means that we agree with the position of the Ministry of Justice, which says that the association operates through the “Voice” movement.” To liquidate an organization, you need gross irreparable violations, which do not exist. Therefore, we consider the claim absurd and will appeal the liquidation decision.”

Co-chairman of the “Voice” movement Grigory Melkonyants says that when the association was included in the register of foreign agents, the association’s leadership wanted to liquidate it, since it was unacceptable to work in such a status: “However, after the Constitutional Court recognized that the association was illegally named a foreign agent, there was a chance to remove her from the register. But it became clear that the association would not be excluded from the register in principle.” Melkonyants also reminds that the liquidation of a non-profit organization can be used as a last resort, when there are irreparable violations: “The state put the association in conditions in which it could not operate by adopting the law on foreign agents. It turns out that the state can liquidate an organization when there are no irreparable violations.” According to him, the decision will be appealed all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. “It is obvious that to improve the image of the elections, liquidation of the association is unprofitable. This is someone's political decision made in the middle of an election. Those who forced the Ministry of Justice to do this are aiming to undermine confidence in the current elections. There are those who are trying to make the situation with the elections at least somehow more decent, and there are those who do not need this - I cannot explain in any other way why the authorities are demonstratively liquidating the association,” he says.

The association applied three times to withdraw from the register of foreign agents, but the Ministry of Justice found no grounds for its exclusion. During one of the unscheduled inspections, the Ministry of Justice found that the association “actually carries out its activities” through the newspaper “Civil Voice”, whose correspondents “shape public opinion by participating in the preparation of reports, statements, reports and other information posted on the website of the unregistered movement.” Voice". The dissolution lawsuit also states that the movement is carrying out projects that were previously carried out by the association.

Foreign funding of the association was recognized for sending public observers to parliamentary elections in Poland at the expense of the host country. On these grounds, the association was not excluded from the register of foreign agents. In April, fines totaling 1.2 million rubles were imposed on the association.

The Golos Association became the first organization that the Ministry of Justice forcibly included in the register of foreign agents. The financial part of the Sakharov Prize awarded by the Helsinki Committee, which the organization refused, was recognized as foreign funding of the organization.

The court liquidated the Golos association