Staff at Amnesty International in Moscow say their office has been broken into and sealed off by municipal officials.
When employees arrived on Wednesday they found new locks on the door and
a stamped paper across the entrance that demanded the office contact
the city authorities, said Alexander Artemyev of human rights group’s
Moscow office. No warning had been given.
“Our neighbours told us that five men came around 9.30am, broke in and
then changed the locks. When asked what they were doing, the men said it
was a rent issue,” Artemyev told the Guardian.
Amnesty staff members had been calling the numbers on the paper
all day without response, so in the evening went to speak with city
officials, where they were told authorities had taken possession of the
property due to non-payment of rent.
“They told us we had been warned three months in advance, which isn’t true,” said Artemyev.
“All our computers, papers, personal effects – they’re all still in
there, behind the locked doors,” Amnesty campaigner Ivan Kondratenko
wrote on Facebook. He posted photographs of the old locks strewn on the
floor amid debris.
John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Europe director,
said: “Given the current climate for civil society work in Russia,
there are clearly any number of plausible explanations, but it’s too
early to draw any conclusions. We are working to resolve the situation
as swiftly as possible and very much hope there is a simple
administrative explanation for this setback to our work.”
Dalhuisen said the organisation was “100% confident” that it had
fulfilled all its obligations as tenants. Artemyev said the Moscow
employees planned to present documents to authorities on Thursday
proving they had paid rent.
He added: “It’s a ludicrous decision and an incorrect one, and we will
try to show that. We don’t want to make any loud political statements
yet; hopefully it is just a mistake.”
A representative of the Moscow state property department, from which
Amnesty rents the office, said they had no immediate comment.
The climate for human rights work in Russia has
worsened in recent years, and a law has forced organisations with
foreign funding to declare themselves as “foreign agents”.
A number of Russian rights groups have had similar problems with
municipal authorities in recent months, but most have received warnings
prior to any action being taken. Sealing an office without warning is a
step usually more indicative of a criminal investigation, though this
does not seem to be the case with Amnesty.
Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch in Moscow said: “Though law
enforcement authorities are not involved in any way, in the current
political climate one cannot help but suspect that these developments
could be aimed at putting pressure on the independent outspoken
organisation, well known for its criticism of Russia’s domestic human
rights crackdown and Russia’s actions in Syria and Ukraine.
“But we genuinely hope this is not the case, and our colleagues will be
able to promptly return to their office and resume normal work.”
The door to the office of Amnesty International after it was sealed by Moscow city authorities. Photograph: Ivan Sekretarev/AP
Staff at Amnesty International in Moscow say their office has been broken into and sealed off by municipal officials.
