Memorial Files Complaint to Court Regarding the Actions of Moscow Prosecutor's Office

[Human Rights Center Memorial]

Memorial Files Complaint to Court Regarding the Actions of Moscow Prosecutor's Office

On 8 April 2013 the Human Rights Center Memorial filed an appeal to the Zamoskvoretsky district court of Moscow against the actions and decisions of the Moscow prosecutor's office.

HRC Memorial lodged a complaint against the unscheduled inspections, which have been carried out by the Moscow prosecutor's office with the participation of experts of the Ministry of Justice and Federal Tax Service since 26 March. The inspectors produced a letter, signed by the Moscow deputy public prosecutor Zakharov, but refused to communicate the reasons for the inspections and their extent. Furthermore, they didn't explain the procedural rights in the course of carrying out the inspections to the chairman of the organization. On 29 March the required documents were provided to the officials who carried out the inspection.

HRC Memorial considers the prosecutor's office's decision concerning the carrying out of inspections and the activities of the inspectors to be unlawful, since they contradict Articles 21 and 22 of the Federal Law on the Prosecutor's Office, impinge upon HRC Memorial's rights, guaranteed by the Russian Constitution in Art. 24 and 30 and the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Art. 11.

HRC Memorial, like the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, states, that the inspections of the prosecutor's office are not carried out with an adequate amount of accuracy. Consequently, the principles of Art. 21 and 22 of the Federal Law on the Prosecutor's Office cannot serve as a basis.

For more details see the text of the complaint (in Russian): http://www.memo.ru/uploads/files/968.pdf.

On the same day, April 8, International Society Memorial also appealed to the court with a similar complaint.

April 9, 2013