Nizhny Novgorod Regional Registration Service seeks closure of ORChDPRESS-RELEASE #1269 FROM APRIL 25, 2005
The Main Department at the Federal Registration Service of Nizhny Novgorod region has brought a suit against the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society claiming to close it down
25 April 2005. The Main Department at the Federal Registration Service at the Ministry of Justice at Nizhny Novgorod Region brought a suit to court claiming to close the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society down. Although the suit was brought on 8 April, the managing director of the RCFS Stanislav Dmitrievsky received its copy last Saturday only. Today at 10.30 the first court trial took place, but legal investigation was postponed till 25 May because Dmitrievsky was absent as that day at 11 am he was summoned to the prosecutor's office to give his evidence on the so-called “The Pravosaschita” newspaper.
As it was reported earlier, the Main Department at the Federal Registration Service has been conducting its audit of the organization although it is not provided for by the plan. The last regular audit of the RCFS was conducted in July last year and it didn't find any law breaches at that time. Conducting this audit the staff of the department demanded to show them even the documents that are not enlisted in the Law on Public Associations. The RCFS made a reasoned decision and refused to show these documents to the inspecting body. All the documents referring to the financial activities had been obtained on demand by the Tax Police and because of it the RCFS couldn't show them to justice department. The acting manager of the department E.V. Istomina considered it as a gross law violation and brought a suit to close down the organization referring to article 63 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and article 25 of the Law on the State Registration of Juridical Persons and Individual Entrepreneurs.
The leaders of the RCFS think that the civil court suits against the organization carried simultaneously with the initiated criminal case, a series of concurrent inspections of the Society initiated by different official bodies, the propaganda campaign launched by mass media venues of Nizhny Novgorod Region and the attempts to intimidate one of its leaders are elements of one political process aimed at destruction of this human rights association.
In the meantime, it became known that the criminal case initiated by the prosecutor's office of Nizhny Novgorod Region against “The Pravosaschita” newspaper (a joint edition of Nizhny Novgorod Society for Human Rights and the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society) on the fact of publishing statements made by Aslan Maskhadov and Akhmed Zakaev has been reclassified. At present they refer to article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (inciting to ethnic, racial or religious hatred) instead of article 280 (public calls to extremist activities). The editor-in-chief of the newspaper and the managing director of the organization Stanislav Dmitrievsky learnt about it when he was interrogated as a witness to the criminal case by an investigator of the prosecutor's office Maksim Dudnik for the first time. According to Dudnik, the linguistic expertise of the statements carried by specialists of the Ministry of Justice came to the conclusion that there are no signs of inciting to extremist activities but according to these experts the texts contain statements that can be placed as charges according to article 282. Due to it the case was sent from the Department of the FSB in Nizhny Novgorod Region to the prosecutor's office as this article is under their jurisdiction. The investigator refused to allow to acquaint themselves with the text of the expertise as “Dmitrievsky has not been charged yet” as thus in correspondence with the procedural criminal code he has no right to acquaint a witness with the case.
A week before that an investigator of the prosecutor's office of Kanavino district of Nizhny Novgorod Alexander Kuflin recognized the editor of the Information Center at the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society Oksana Chelysheva as a victim in a criminal case into the falsehood and threats addressed at her. As it was reported earlier, on 14 March in the neighborhood where Chelysheva lives unidentified people distributed leaflets containing threats and falsehood. There wwas her name and address at which she leaves in the leaflet. Chelysheva was offered to be accompanied by an armed bodyguard by the investigator. She has refused the offer for the time present. The RCFS suspects the agents of the FSB who were conducting the investigation into the criminal “The Pravosaschita” case in January-April this year of being involved into distribution of those leaflets as they had access to the particulars of the staffers of the RCFS.
(The text was not edited by Prague Watchdog, except for the headline).
Source: ORChD (T/B) |
