The Council of Europe’s Association of Schools of Political Studies (ASPS) announced, on Wednesday 7 April, that it has filed a complaint with the Tverskoy (Moscow) District Court challenging the decision of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation, which last December placed it on the list of “undesirable organisations”.
“This decision is totally arbitrary because the ASPS which promotes human rights, democracy and the rule of law could never be a threat to Russian national security and what’s more it will hinder the Council of Europe, of which Russia is a member”, said Nils Muižnieks, President of the ASPS, who was the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights between 2012 and 2018.
“This unprecedented and unacceptable decision is the first time any Member State has wilfully tried to stop its citizens from engaging with the Council of Europe since any Russian national involved with the ASPS could be liable to criminal prosecution”, he added .
In effect, this decision resulted in the banning of activities and the blocking of the ASPS website and Twitter account in Russia. Measures that violate its rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights ratified by Russia, the ASPS stresses, echoing a Declaration issued in January by the Council of Europe Assembly’s two rapporteurs on monitoring Russia. In it, Germany’s Axel Schäfer and Ria Oomen-Ruijten from the Netherlands urged the Russian authorities to repeal the laws on “foreign agents” and “undesirable organisations”. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)