The Tagansky District Court of Moscow received materials from an administrative case regarding violation of the procedure for the activities of a “foreign agent” in relation to human rights activist Marina Litvinovich. Information about this appeared in the database of city courts, Mediazona drew attention.
A protocol was drawn up against Litvinovich regarding a request to public authorities, which was sent by a member of a “foreign agent” organization without appropriate markings (Part 5 of Article 19.34).
The materials were received by the court exactly one week after Litvinovich was declared a «foreign agent», but the registered protocol is not related to her personal status. In the register of the Ministry of Justice, Litvinovich is also listed as a member of the women's community «Soft Power», which was declared a «foreign agent» back in May of last year.
The materials of the same administrative case were received today by the Tagansky District Court against Evgenia Gershberg, another member of the «Soft Power» community. Part 5 of Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses is rarely applied; it provides for a fine of up to 30 thousand rubles.
The “Soft Power” movement was created in 2022 by more than 20 parliamentarians, journalists and human rights activists from different regions. “Russia in recent years has been a state of violence, lawlessness and poverty. <…> “Brute force comes to the fore: men in combat gear on our streets and borders, violence in prisons, domestic violence, increasing political repression,” the Commonwealth manifesto said. It ended with the words “The time has come for women’s politics in Russia. Time for soft power.”
Also on June 7, Moscow courts received protocols on publications without the “foreign agent” label against journalists Yuri Dud and Roman Badanin (Part 4 of Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code). Meeting dates have not yet been set. The Frunzensky District Court of Yaroslavl registered the materials of an administrative case under a similar article against LGBT activist Yaroslav Sirotkin, whom the Ministry of Internal Affairs recently put on the wanted list in a criminal case.
On May 31, the Ministry of Justice updated the register of “foreign agents” for the first time since April — in addition to Marina Litvinovich, it included the movement of the wives of mobilized “Way Home”, its founder Maria Andreeva and journalist Ekaterina Duntsova, who tried to register in the elections President of Russia.