"Some employees cried from the fact that justice triumphed"

The court ordered the Ministry of Justice to exclude the “humanitarian action” fund from the register of “ino -agents”, which helps people with HIV. This is how it was possible to achieve

The St. Petersburg Charity Fund " Humanitarian Action " mainly works with drug users and people with HIV. But the Russian authorities at the end of 2020 decided that philanthropists were also engaged in “political activity” - and included the fund in the list of “foreign agents”. After almost a year and a half, on February 18, 2022, the court ordered the Ministry of Justice to exclude the “humanitarian action” from the register-this is the first decision for Russia without the abandonment of the organization of foreign financing. The Medusa spoke about how this was achieved, I talked with the Director General of the Fund Sergey Dugin.

It all started with the fact that [in 2020] the prosecutor's office came to the Ministry of Justice - it was interested in our projects and the receipt of money from foreign funds. They had an assumption that we are conducting “foreign” activities. The Ministry of Justice conducted an audit - we saw its result at the end of 2020, when we were entered into this register.

It was strange, because earlier, when we underwent checks, even unscheduled, we were all called to give explanations. This time no one called and asked nothing. I just opened the Sovereign website and saw a court decision that we are engaged in “political activity” .

Yes, we collaborated with the Elton John Foundation, the Global Fund and many other organizations, but all of them have the slightest attitude to politics. The Ministry of Justice clung to our interview, where we talked about replacement therapy . These interviews were not on our initiative, we were simply invited and asked to express our opinion.

In addition, in 2018, we sent an appeal to the Ministry of Justice to amend the Law “On the Prevention of the spread of HIV infection in Russia”. Moreover, in 2019, this was not a “political activity”, and in 2020 the same appeal began to be regarded that way. Although all this lies in the field of healthcare, not politics. And the fact that our organization is engaged in health issues is confirmed by a license issued to us [to work in this area]. We do not go beyond our competence.

When we were recognized as “foreign agents”, one of our large project was immediately frozen. When we announced the competition, many organizations refused to submit applications - they said that they were afraid to receive money from a “foreign agent”. Many were afraid that they would also fall into this register.

In addition, there is a problem in working with state institutions. There we were told that they understand the value of our projects, but they cannot cooperate under such circumstances. In this situation, oddly enough, St. Petersburg stands out, because the Health Committee, the Committee on Social Policy, the Security Committee-they did not turn away from us. The city gave subsidies, and we worked out them.

As soon as we were brought into the register, we immediately began to look for a lawyer [to challenge the decision]. We stopped at Maxim Krupsky - he is a very high level. The organization “Public Verdict” helped to find it, which specializes in the protection of people like us.

We all the time discussed the strategy: what documents should be prepared and how best to get out of this situation. They prepared a lot of papers, everything was printed in all details. They brought all the contracts, all applications, all budgets, financial and substantive reports. We had nothing to fear, because there was no policy there, and the court had to make sure that in our projects we did not go beyond health care. The judicial board read and got acquainted with the documents in great detail.

The key in court was that the Ministry of Justice violated the procedure and did not pay attention to the law that clearly says that if the organization works in the field of healthcare, social protection, culture or sports, then it falls under the exception . The Ministry of Justice was supposed to see whether we are an exception or not. If we do not get it, it means that the road is to “foreign agents” to us.

The judges tried to find out how much the Ministry of Justice figured out this situation. In our situation, everything is obvious. We can speak and offer something to the authorities, with regard to our region. We do not propose, for example, to change the election law - and do not urge people to go out with pickets to administrative buildings.

Other organizations have a more shaky situation. For example, those who work in our area, but do not have a medical license. They, unlike us, have no formal evidence that they work in this area. They can do good deeds, but they cannot document it. Everything is based on the fact that if you have a piece of paper, it’s good, and if not, then you can’t confirm anything.

But in fact, the expectations regarding the court decision were very weak. All the time when the organizations sued with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Justice won. Despite this, hope - albeit small - still remained. Common meaning says to pay attention to the law, in our case this happened. After the trial, some employees cried from the fact that justice triumphed.

Now we will wait for us to get out of the registry. How long the Ministry of Justice will fulfill the court decision is unknown. Until this formally happens, we will not try to restore any work ties. But I want to say that a lot of people from federal structures wrote to me messages with congratulations. It was the year of real struggle, which ended successfully.

Wrote Alexey Shumkin