The Ministry of Justice threatened the Sitting Rus' Foundation with a fine due to “signs of abuse” of the Russian coat of arms in their logo

The Ministry of Justice threatened the foundation with a fine due to “signs of abuse” of the state emblem in their logo. This was reported by Kommersant with reference to the head of the legal department of the fund, Olga Podoplelova.

The logo of the Sitting Rus' organization, which helps prisoners and their families, depicts a double-headed eagle, one part of which looks like a FSIN officer with a baton, and the other part looks like a prisoner in a striped robe and in shackles with a weight.

Back in March, the Moscow department of the Ministry of Justice demanded that the foundation abandon its logo and warned Sitting Rus' about possible fines for failure to comply with the department’s instructions (Article 19.5 of the Administrative Code). Officials promised to take “response measures up to and including judicial liquidation,” Podoplelova specified.

After this, “Sitting Rus'” wrote a statement to the central office of the department, since the employees of the capital’s department did not conduct an examination of the logo. The foundation's lawyers argue that Russia does not have a monopoly on the use of the image of a double-headed eagle.

“Sitting Rus'” turned to the Heraldic Council under the President to analyze the image; experts assured that the logo is not the state emblem. After this, the fund filed a lawsuit against the Moscow department of the Ministry of Justice. Yesterday, the Gagarinsky District Court of Moscow began considering the complaint.