RUSSIAN-CHECHEN FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY ORDERED CLOSED

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 011540

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/13/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIAN-CHECHEN FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY ORDERED CLOSED

Classified By: Charge Daniel A. Russell. Reasons 1.4 (b and d).


1. (U) A Nizhniy Novgorod court on October 13 ordered the
Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS) to be closed.
According to press reports, the court found that the
organization violated the NGO law. Specifically, it ruled
that RCFS had allowed its Executive Director Stanislav
Dmitrievskiy to continue his affiliation with the
organization after he was convicted of inciting racial hatred
earlier this year. Under the law, an NGO must sever ties
with any official convicted of "extremist" activities, and
prosecutors filed a suit against RCFS alleging that it had
failed to remove him from the board, condemn his behavior,
and notify the Federal Registration Service about his
activities. Dmitrievskiy told reporters he would immediately
appeal the ruling and continue separate appeals of his
conviction, which stemmed from the 2004 publication of
statements by Chechen separatist leaders in the NGO's
newspaper. Dmitrievskiy also said he would appeal to the
European Court of Human Rights if necessary.


2. (C) Oksana Chelyusheva of RCFS told us that prosecutors
had served the suit on October 9, with the hearing scheduled
October 12. The NGO had no time to adequately prepare its
defense or to bring in other legal advisors and other
supporters from outside Russia to bolster its case.
Dmitrievskiy, who represented the RCFS in court,
unsuccessfully sought a postponement. Chelysheva wrote in an
October 12 e-mail sent just after the hearing that the
decision was predetermined based on the judge's conduct of
the hearing.


3. (C) In a recent meeting, Dmitrievskiy and Chelyusheva
acknowledged that Dmitrievskiy's continued work with the
organization, which has only a small administrative staff in
Nizhniy Novgorod and a few reporters in the North Caucasus,
put it at risk. They said they would make no attempt to
conceal his involvement. Dmitrievskiy said he was aware of
the risk, but that he and Chelyusheva would continue out of
principle. Dmitrievskiy told us that his conviction had
already led to a shortfall in funding, and he expected that
there would be further legal action forthcoming.


4. (C) COMMENT: RCFS' closure is the first of its kind
under the new NGO law. Dmitrievskiy and Chelyusheva knew
that his participation in the organization left RCFS exposed
but seemed to us resigned to the idea that RCFS would be
closed whether Dmitrievskiy remained executive director or
not. We have little reason to expect that an appellate court
will overturn the decision. They remained aggressive critics
of the conduct of the war in Chechnya, recently working on a
proposal to conduct research into possible war crimes
committed by Russian forces. END COMMENT.
RUSSELL