The Moscow City Court liquidated the Sakharov Center

The Moscow City Court decided to liquidate the Sakharov Center. This was reported by the joint press service of the capital's courts and the Sugar Bowl itself .

Previously, the Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit for liquidation. The department's main complaint against the center was that it held events outside the region of registration - Moscow.

In total, the Ministry of Justice counted nine such events - in Tver, Yoshkar-Ola, Ryazan and other cities. According to the department, to hold meetings and conferences outside the region of registration, the organization must open new branches.

In addition, the center was charged with publishing materials without the “foreign agent” tag on its website and YouTube channel, writes Business FM . According to the publication, lawyer Marina Koltsova, who defended the interests of Sugar Bowl, noted at the meeting that the Ministry of Justice had previously inspected the organization three times and had not made any claims in connection with events outside Moscow.

The lawsuit to liquidate the Sakharov Center was filed after an April inspection initiated by State Duma deputy Andrei Lugovoi. Representatives of the center insist that they did not violate the current legislation, and the liquidation lawsuit is an attempt to put pressure on the center.

“It is clear that there is a consistent campaign taking place. In general, one can easily guess the goals of such a campaign if one recalls the developments around the International Memorial and the Moscow Helsinki Group,” this is how representatives of the Sakharov Center commented on the decision on an unscheduled inspection in March.

In January, the Moscow government terminated the free lease agreement for the premises of the Sakharov Center, which had been in force for more than 20 years. The reason for this decision was the tightening of legislation on “foreign agents” - according to the amendments, organizations with this status cannot receive material support from the state. The Sugar Bowl was added to the register back in 2014. In January 2023, the Prosecutor General’s Office also recognized the American foundation of Andrei Sakharov as an “undesirable organization.”