The Zamoskvoretsky Court in Moscow rejected requests by artist and musician Semyon Slepakov*, comedian Makim Galkin* and blogger Ilya Varlamov* to revoke foreign agent status. Although there have been no positive decisions in such cases in Russia over the past year, lawyers believe that it still makes sense to appeal the decision of the Ministry of Justice.
Challenging the entry in the Foreign Agents Register is the right of any person and organization on the relevant list, lawyer Sergei Badamshin noted in an interview with Russian media. The meaning of such a challenge, according to him, is above all to exercise one’s right.
“Everyone chooses on their own whether to appeal or not, whether it makes sense for them to fight or not, whether it makes sense to find information or not. It also depends on where the person is now. “As far as I know, some people are abroad, the so-called relocated ones, and they don’t associate closely with their country anymore. Others want to come back and try to defend their right,” Badamshin is sure.
The lawyer added that during the hearing, the Department of Justice, which decides whether to place a person or organization on the Foreign Agent Registry, “at a minimum” provides justification and evidence to support the decision.
“A foreign agent and his representatives see at least all the documents, except for the information from Rosfinmonitoring, which, unfortunately, is usually not presented alongside the administrative plaintiff during a court hearing,” he said. he declares.
Sergey BadamshinVladimir Gerdo / TASS
Information from Rosfinmonitoring, according to Badamshin, is presented only to the judge. He called the practice “vicious” and violating the parties’ competition rights. Moreover, now judicial practice is evolving in such a way that requests for removal of foreign agent status remain unsatisfied, the lawyer noted. At the same time, the Ministry of Justice initially positioned the concept of foreign agents as non-discriminatory, but now, according to Sergei Badamshin, “we can conclude that this is a discriminatory measure.”
“But to say, ‘Don’t go, it’s no use’, that’s legal nihilism. (There’s a meaning to it) in terms of fighting for your rights, including getting information, getting some dialogue with the Ministry of Justice. It’s like the saying: “That’s why the pike in the river, so that the crucian does not doze off.” That is, you will not fight, it will be a easy walk for the Ministry of Justice. It is necessary to share what the objectives are during the appeal, what is the desired result when the appeal is fixed on the side of the administrative plaintiff, ”says the lawyer.
According to Galina Arapova, director of the Media Rights Protection Center*, an important task when challenging the status of a foreign official is also to document your disagreement with the decision of the state represented by the Ministry of Justice in legal level. The results of such trials can be considered a “chronicle of senseless history”, Arapova* is sure of it.
“The most reasonable thing in this situation is to register your disagreement, and the most logical fixation of this disagreement is documentary, not with a post on Facebook (property of Meta**), but with an accessible tool to make appeal against the actions of a state body with the decision you disagree with. There is a certain legal procedure that allows you to more or less adequately express your disagreement – a trial. And even if we understand that justice, especially in these cases, is not only at some point in the crisis, and it is difficult to call it the word “justice”, nevertheless, there is no ‘other procedure,’ she pointed out.
According to Arapova*, challenging the status of foreign agent in court is also an opportunity to receive written explanations from the Ministry of Justice on the reasons for which a person is denied exclusion from the register. In the Maxim Galkin* case, which was conducted by the lawyers of the Center for the Protection of Media Rights*, according to Arapova*, as evidence of foreign influence, the Ministry of Justice referred to the fact that the artist rented halls for his performances abroad, as well as video recordings of applause after the artist’s performance.
“And it doesn’t show in the registry, it only shows when the Department of Justice, to the extent that the employees have enough logic, justifies this decision. <…> If we don’t appeal, we won’t see anything. And the names of all the officials, big and small, who sign the documents, the executors who are written in lowercase letters at the bottom of all these papers that turn this wheel. The names of these people only appear in the trial. Otherwise, all this anarchy will be anonymous. Therefore, the judicial appeal has a rather diverse meaning – both legal, historical and documentary. In fact, it is a kind of legal chronicle of this story,” Arapova* pointed out.
In addition, an appeal may make sense for future litigation, says lawyer Ivan Pavlov *, who himself tried to challenge the decision to put him on the list of foreign agents. According to him, there is not a single case in Russia that would end with the exclusion of a person from the register of foreign agents.
“It seems to me that the majority still understands and correctly assesses the situation, that now the decision will be unequivocal. But at the same time, you have to go through this path, first, to then have grounds to prove your case. Even if everything is like this now, then everything can change, and good reputation will be restored, and people will be rehabilitated. I am sure that such processes will continue, and for them to begin, we must now review all the cases to show that measures have been taken to protect the rights violated, respectively, people have not stood by crusaders and did not agree with this decision, they took steps to challenge the decision of the authorities “, – Pavlov* is sure.
Ivan PavlovVyacheslav Prokofiev /TASS
According to Galina Arapova*, the Russians can always appeal to the UN Human Rights Committee if they believe that they have failed to restore justice in their case in Russia. But before that, a person must exhaust all remedies at the national level, that is, go through all the courts of the country, including the Supreme Court.
“I believe that justice has no limitation period. Sooner or later justice will prevail. Even if not now, if not in the Zamoskvoretsky court, and even, most likely, not in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. But if you do nothing, nothing will happen. Therefore, the call is very important,” Arapova* stressed.
What does foreign agent status mean?
Persons and organizations registered in the register of foreign agents, in accordance with Russian law, are required to mark their documents on the Internet and the media, maintain accounting and statistical reports, submit a report on foreign activities and sources once every three months, and publish a report on their activities on the Internet or in the media. All this, according to Galina Arapova*, is a complex of human rights violations.
“It’s a violation of the right to privacy, because you have to submit some kind of stupid reports, because Rosfinmonitoring follows you, they poke their noses into your bank accounts, they publish your personal data. And that in itself constitutes a serious invasion of privacy,” she explained.
In addition, Russian laws restrict some of the rights of foreign agents. They are prohibited from:
work in government; disseminating information to children; conduct educational activities with children; work as teachers; organize public events; be a member of the electoral commission; participate in election campaigns; donate money to election funds for election candidates and parties; nominate candidates for public control commissions; conduct anti-corruption expertise on invoices; participate in public procurement; receive money from the budget, including for creativity; use a simplified tax system; invest in strategic companies in Russia.
“It is a violation of the right to freedom of expression, freedom of expression, you cannot engage in educational activities, you cannot teach, you must put a mark on each post on the networks social and so on, and all this is under the threat of fines, and in the end after two fines – criminal liability. This is unprecedented discrimination, absolutely unprecedented at the legislative level,” added Arapova*.
This is why it is important to protest against the status of foreign agent: a request to withdraw the status of foreign agent is an attempt to protect your rights, your civil and human dignity, she is sure of it.
“And even if in the process you run on the spot, and you understand that it’s not like in an ordinary trial, when the success will be to win and make a decision in your favor. That’s not the goal here. We understand what the court decision will be, it is written according to the model by all the judges who consider these cases. But this does not mean that it is not necessary to force the judiciary and the state to sign their own participation in the persecution with letters on paper, and not just a line in the register of foreign agents”, concluded Arapova*.
*registered by the Ministry of Justice in the register of foreign agents
** Meta’s activities to implement Facebook and Instagram are recognized as extremist in Russia and banned
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