Russia: A year on, Putin’s ‘foreign agents law’ choking freedom
A restrictive "foreign agents law" adopted a year ago is choking independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Russia, Amnesty International said today. The "foreign agents law" is at the centre of a raft of repressive legislation that has been brought in since Putin’s return to the presidency.
"One year after came into force, the record of the foreign agents law is a grim one. More than a thousand NGOs have been inspected and dozens have received warnings. Several of the most prominent human rights groups have been fined and some forced to close," said John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia Director at Amnesty International.
It has a wide reach affecting NGOs working on civil and political, social and economic rights, as well as environmental issues and discrimination, including against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people.
Russian NGOs have unanimously and vocally refused to be branded "foreign agents". The unannounced mass "inspections" of some 1,000 organizations during the spring and autumn of 2013 were widely publicized by media aligned with the Russian authorities.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/russia-year-putin-s-foreign-agents-law-choking-freedom-2013-11-20
Not exactly a news flash but further evidence of Putin's tightening political control in Russia.
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