Amnesty staff blocked from Moscow office after officials seal premises

Amnesty staff blocked from Moscow office after officials seal premises

Posted by John P. Bradford // November 3, 2016

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Employee says human rights groups office broken into and locks changed without warning

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 groups 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.

Sergei Nikitin (@Amnesty_Nikitin)

Amnesty International pic.twitter.com/eLVh2sSsRR

November 2, 2016

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 isnt true, said Artemyev.

All our computers, papers, personal effects theyre 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 Internationals Europe director, said: Given the current climate for civil society work in Russia, there are clearly any number of plausible explanations, but its 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: Its a ludicrous decision and an incorrect one, and we will try to show that. We dont 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 Russias domestic human rights crackdown and Russias 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.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/02/amnesty-staff-blocked-from-moscow-office-after-officials-seal-building