'Snap inspections'
Russia enacts law enabling 'snap inspections' of NGOs
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a measure into law Monday expanding the reasons for which non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can be subject to unscheduled audits, or "snap inspections." These reasons include allegations of extremism and suspected violations of the law, and the inspections may be ordered by the heads of authorized agencies, or requested by prosecutors and election commissions. According to the Russian Ministry of Justice, of the 6,947 NGOs inspected in 2013, only 206 of the audits were unscheduled.
Russia's Federal Council, the upper house of parliament, approved a controversial NGO law last July much to the dismay of Putin's critics, who considered the bill an effort to curb free speech and the right to assemble. Since the NGO law took effect last November, Russian activists have vowed to challenge it. Leading rights groups, including Memorial, election-monitoring body Golos and the Moscow Helsinki Group have all chosen to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
In August, Kostroma Center filed a complaint in the Constitutional Court of Russia against the law, after it had been fined 300,000 rubles (USD $9,000) for organizing a roundtable with US diplomats, which investigators said counted as "political activity." The US State Department claimed it had "deep concern" about the new bill, but was likewise reminded by Moscow that such an issue involves domestic rather than international policy.
(Published by Jurist – February 25, 2014)