Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders

Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders condemns the brutal use of force against the Russian NGO ‘’For Human Rights’’ and its chairman Lev Ponomaryov, during the organisation’s forcible eviction Saturday night, 22 June 2013. Security forces stormed into the organisation’s premises, raiding the office and using physical force to evict Ponomaryov and about half a dozen employees. The 71-year-old human rights activist told local media he was dragged across the floor and out of the building and kicked by men in civilian clothing while the riot police officers watched. The authorities have said the organisation was evicted because their lease had run out on the premises, owned by Moscow city government, but it comes in the context the pressure put on many NGOs since the adoption of a new NGO law in November 2012, requiring nonprofit organisations, which receive foreign funding and engage in political activity, to register as ‘’foreign agents”.

via Civil Rights Defenders – Violence against human rights defenders unacceptable.

This entry was posted on June 25, 2013 at 21:52 and is filed under human rights, Human Rights Defenders.

Tags: Civil Rights Defenders, Eviction, forced evictions, Foreign agent, freedom of association, Human right, human rights activist, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Lev Ponomaryov, Moscow, moscow city government, Non-governmental organization, Ponomaryov, Russia