On Friday 2 June, the European Union criticised the charges against human rights defender Valentina Cherevatenko, who is the leader of the NGO Union of Women of Don.
These charges "represent the first criminal case opened under the 'foreign agents' law in Russia. The practice of declaring NGOs as 'foreign agents' restricts civil society and impedes the exercise of fundamental freedoms", the spokesperson for the European External Action Service said in a press release.
Cherevatenko was formally charged on 2 June for having intentionally avoided the registration of her NGO as a foreign agent. She risks two years in prison. The authorities added the NGO to this list in 2014 because it receives foreign funding and is involved in politics – which Cherevatenko denies. She believes that the proceedings are reprisals for one of her projects (which monitors the implementation of the Minsk agreements for putting an end to the conflict in east Ukraine).
The EEAS spokesperson stated that Cherevatenko's "outstanding work" on human rights education, peace building, and humanitarian issues is "well-known and widely appreciated". (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)