Week-ending 27 November 2020
“The language [of the new bill on civil society groups] is very elastic, as it is in so many Russian laws of recent years. First of all, we are going to have to submit information in advance about whatever events and programmes we intend to conduct. But most important is that the Justice Ministry will be able to issue a reasoned decision prohibiting any of the programmes we declare. What is a reasoned decision? There is no list of grounds for prohibiting programmes. Based on experience, we can assume that they will be interpreting this point of law however it suits them. As of that moment, the Justice Ministry will be able to prohibit any type of our activity. Whether it will act in this way or not, we don’t know, but they will then have that opportunity. Figuratively speaking, they are introducing censorship. We submit a programme in advance, and the Justice Ministry can prohibit something in advance.”
-Oleg Orlov, member of the board of Memorial Human Rights Centre
Source:
‘Oleg Orlov: Censorship threatens the activities of NGOs branded as ‘foreign agents”,’ Rights in Russia, 17 November 2020
This is a translation of an interview published by Moscow Helsinki Group. The original source is Deutsche Welle
