Sociological question

The Levada Center appealed in the Constitutional Court the provision of the Law on NKO- "Ino-Agents", equating sociological studies to political activity. This was stated by the director of the center Lev Gudkov, Interfax reports .

The organization appeals the amendments made to the law in June 2016, which equate sociological studies with political activity. "It turns out that our activities, which, under the earlier version of the law after the audit, was not recognized by the prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Justice of the political, after amendments to the law, retroactively, is recognized as political activity," Gudkov noted.

In connection with the amendments, the law acquired a “clearly unlawful nature,” the sociologist believes. “The point is not only in the status of a“ foreign agent ”of the Levada Center, but also in general problems. The law is of arbitrary nature, blocks the activities of a number of civilian organizations, this violates our civil rights,” the scientist emphasized.

On September 5, the Levada Center was declared an “agent” . The decision of the Ministry of Justice was made by the denunciation of Anti -Maidan , filed in mid -July. Black Hundreds assured that the Levada Center "conducts research on the US Department of Defense by order of the University of Wisconsin." "By order of the American military," said in denunciation, NPOs "collected information in Moscow and regions."

The media associated a denunciation with the publication of the Levada Center on July 6 of the research results on the perception of the country's country by marsh business. As the study showed, 54 percent of the respondents believe that this case was fabricated in order to intimidate the opposition community.

On October 26, the Judge of the Tver District Court of Moscow Ales Orekhova, in the lawsuit of the capital's administration of the Ministry of Justice , fined the Levada Center for 300 thousand rubles under Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (violation of the procedure for the NPO, performing the functions of the "foreign agent") for refusing to register the "agent".

On November 18, the judge of the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow Nelly Rubtsova rejected the complaint of the Levada Center to recognize the "foreign agent". The representative of the Center Alexander Grigoryev during the trial regarded the actions of the Ministry of Justice as "administrative arbitrariness and flagrant failure of the federal law." The department noted, the lawyer noted, exceeded the authority, having introduced documents not provided for by law to the materials of the audit, including printouts of publications from the Internet. “Not a single document that has become the basis for the conclusion about the implementation of the Levada Center for political activity is not mentioned at the disposal of the audit, and is also not applied to the audit act,” Grigoryev emphasized.

On December 8, at a meeting of Vladimir Putin with members of the Human Rights Council, the supervisor of the Higher School of Economics Yevgeny Yasinasked the president "somehow to help the Levada Center in his discussions with the Ministry of Justice. Yasin called this organization the best sociological center of the country, which scientists trust the most.

“I understand that this is an independent center, and sometimes things appear in it, perhaps unpleasant for the federal authorities, but this is its value, and it makes up a serious share of the vision of Russia as a democratic state,” said the supervisor of the Higher School.

Putin agreed with the ambiguity of the decision of the Ministry of Justice regarding the Levada Center. “Yes, there is a problem for sure,” the president said.

On January 13, the Levada Center filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in connection with the inclusion of “foreign agents” in the register. "We filed a complaint with the ECHR on violation of two articles of the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights," said lawyer Ilnur Sharapov, who represents the interests of the Levada Center. According to him, we are talking about Articles 11 (violation of the right of assembly) and 14 (discrimination in the field of activity).