Support The Moscow Times!

Court Fines Sakharov Center NGO for Violating 'Foreign Agents' Law

Pixabay

A Moscow court on Wednesday fined the Sakharov Center human rights organization for failing to mark an article it posted online with a "foreign agent" warning, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

The center said it had added the label to a post about a debate club on its website after receiving a warning from the Justice Ministry, RIA Novosti reported.

However, the Tagansky District Court found the NGO in violation of the "foreign agents" law and ordered it to pay a fine of 400,000 rubles ($6,000), the report said.

The Sakharov Center was included on the "foreign agents" registry — a list of NGOs that receive foreign funding and are engaged in loosely defined "political activities" — in December last year, and was fined 300,000 rubles in March after failing to register under the label.

The center is named after physicist Andrei Sakharov, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975 for his opposition to the abuse of power and his work on human rights.

… we have a small favor to ask.

As you may have heard, The Moscow Times, an independent news source for over 30 years, has been unjustly branded as a "foreign agent" by the Russian government. This blatant attempt to silence our voice is a direct assault on the integrity of journalism and the values we hold dear.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. Our commitment to providing accurate and unbiased reporting on Russia remains unshaken. But we need your help to continue our critical mission.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just 2. It's quick to set up, and you can be confident that you're making a significant impact every month by supporting open, independent journalism. Thank you.

Continue

Read more