The League of Voters appeals to the ECHR
10.02.2022
This is the translation of the statement by the Foundation's Executive Director.
The 'League of Voters' Foundation appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for an interim measure requiring the Russian authorities not to liquidate the Foundation pending the ECHR proceedings on its earlier complaint.
On September 23, 2021, the League of Voters filed an ECHR complaint against the administrative fine of 225 rubles 40 kopecks (approx. 2.6 EUR — REM) for failure to notify the judiciary about an 'episode of foreign funding' received from a citizen of Moldova. By the way, we returned the Moldovan money even before the order of the Ministry of Justice on the compulsory inclusion of the foundation in the registry of non-profit organizations 'performing the functions of a foreign agent'.
On December 8, 2021, under the decision of Basmanniy District Court of Moscow the foundation was liquidated and information about it removed from the state registry. We sent an appeal to the Moscow City Court against the illegal and politically motivated decision to liquidate the organization. We have no doubt that the decision of the court of the first instance will be approved by the court of appeals by March 31, 2022, will come into legal force immediately, and will certainly be immediately and forcibly executed by the state bodies of Russia.
Such a development will lead to the complete disappearance of our legal status and capacity, and will therefore create the risk of irreparable and imminent harm to our rights and interests. Liquidation would make all of our future legal activities impossible: the Foundation would be unable to rent office space, collect donations, will lose all of its property, and would be forced to cease its human rights and educational activities. Russian law does not provide for a mechanism to restore or 're-register' a liquidated non-profit organization even after the cancellation of the decision to liquidate it.
Both the decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation forcibly including the 'League of Voters' Foundation into the registry of foreign agents and the decision of Basmanniy District Court to liquidate it violate the right to freedom of associations guaranteed by Article 30 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and Article 11 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
