Russia’s Supreme Court overturns ruling to fine “foreign agent” NGO

(Interfax – December 7, 2015)

The Russian Supreme Court has revoked a ruling to fine a St Petersburg-based NGO, Institute of Regional Press, over its refusal to be labelled a “foreign agent”, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 7 December.

“The judges failed to find formal components of the crime in the actions of the rights activists. It is the first time that a court at this level has cancelled a ruling to fine a so-called ‘foreign agent’,” lawyer Ivan Pavlov was quoted as saying. He added that the activists would seek to obtain a refund of the money that had already been paid.

The “foreign agent” title should be assigned to politically-inclined NGOs that receive foreign funding, according to Russian law. The term bears negative connotations from the Soviet era.

The Institute of Regional Press had earlier been fined for R400,000 (about 5,800 dollars at the current exchange rate) by a St Petersburg court, according to Interfax.

Meanwhile, the Nizhniy Novgorod Regional Court dismissed a complaint by the Dront environment NGO over a fine for the violation of the law on noncommercial organizations, according to another Interfax report later on the same day. The Dront head, Askhat Kayumov, told Interfax that the ruling for a R300,000 fine had been upheld by the higher authority. The court hearing lasted 15 minutes, Kayumov said. “It was all expected,” he said.