Court closes down the “Russian – Chechen Friendship Society”

The interregional civic organization “Russian – Chechen Friendship Society” is to be closed down  This was the ruling handed down on Friday 13 October by the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Court thus allowing the application from the regional prosecutor’s office.  The news was given by the director of the civic organization “The Committee against Torture” Igor Kalyapin.

The prosecutor had demanded the closure of the organization on the basis of Article 15 of the Law “On countering extremist activity”.  This Article allows law enforcement agencies to close down organizations whose leaders have called for extremist activity.

The executive director of the Russian – Chechen Friendship Society Stanislav  (Stas) Dimitrievsky was convicted in February over the publication of an appeal from Aslan Maskhadov and Akhmed Zakaev in the newspaper “Pravozashchita” [“Human rights defence”].  According to the prosecutor, Dmitrievsky’s colleagues should have publicly condemned their director, and since they did not do this the organization is to be liquidated.