The Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, Nils Muiznieks, has been requested by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to look into a group of cases lodged against the Russian law on “foreign agents”. On Thursday 13 July, the Commissioner described this law as, “incompatible with international and European standards”.
This law was adopted in 2012 and closely controls NGOs that benefit from foreign funding. Threatened by fines and/or imprisonment, these NGOs are...