Memorial challenges prosecutors’ inspection in court

(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 8, 2013) The historical and enlightenment society Memorial and human rights center Memorial filed a lawsuit on Monday with the Moscow Zamoskvoretsky Court against the unscheduled inspection by prosecutors.

“The Memorial center challenged the unscheduled inspection by the Moscow prosecutor’s office in court, in association with the Justice Ministry and tax experts, which began on March 26. The international Memorial filed the same complaint in court today as well,” the Memorial center press secretary Yulia Klimova told Interfax.

“The Memorial center supposes that the decision of the prosecutor’s office to hold inspections and the actions of inspectors are illegal because they contradict Articles 21 and 22 of the law of the prosecutor’s office,” Klimova said.

Klimova said that the inspection violated “rights of the human rights center Memorial guaranteed by the Russian Constitution in Articles 24 and 40 and Article 11 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.”

“Inspectors refused to give grounds for the check and its extent. Besides this, they did not explain to the organization’s representatives their procedural rights during the inspection. On March 29, the prosecutor’s office was provided with the documents it has requested,” Klimova said.

Employees of the prosecutor’s office, Justice Ministry and tax service began inspecting human rights organizations in March, including the Russian office of Amnesty International, For Human Rights, Memorial center, Public Verdict fund and Moscow Helsinki Group as well as the Moscow office of Transparency International, Human Rights Watch and Civil Cooperation human rights committee. Human rights activists said that the inspection was related to the law on foreign agents, which came into force in 2012.