Russian Court Shutters Chechen-Rights Group

The Russian Supreme Court upheld a ruling that closed the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, an activist organization whose co-chairman was convicted of extremism, reports The Washington Post.

Russia has recently drawn criticism for its strict new laws for nonprofit groups, which some say are meant to quiet criticism of the Kremlin and punish its political opposition.

The Friendship Society’s co-chair Stanislav Dmitrievsky was convicted of inciting racial hatred, a charge stemming from a newsletter the group published that included a statement by two prominent Chechen separatists. The society was punished for keeping Mr. Dmitrievsky on its board and for refusing to publicly denounce him within five days of his conviction.

The group has received funds from the European Union, the National Endowment for Democracy (a U.S.-based group that gets money from the U.S. government), and the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. Earlier this month, Western politicians and experts sent a letter to President Vladimir Putin criticizing the courts’ rulings on the society.

Read more about Russia’s crackdown on nongovernmental organizations in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, in this article about a Dutch human-rights group and this article about American groups in Russia.

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