Non-governmental and media organizations have submitted a written communication to the European Court of Human Rights on the “Russian Law” case. The organizations have provided the court with detailed information about the deteriorating situation following the adoption of the “Russian Law”, the adoption of new laws restricting non-governmental and media organizations, their repressive enforcement, and a unified process of persecution of civil society organizations, the aim of which is to eliminate independent media and civil society organizations.

On October 17, 2024, 16 media organizations, 120 non-governmental organizations, and 4 individualslodged an application before the European Court of Human Rights against the “Russian Law” and its severe consequences.

The Courthas begun considering the case in an unprecedentedly short period of time, after which the case moved to a new stage. The court has already received the state's response to the application. At the next stage, the Ministry of Justice has to submit written observations to the court and respond to the written arguments of the applicants.

Non-governmental and media organizations, as well as individuals argue, on violations protected by the European Convention on Human Rights - the right to freedom of assembly and association (Article 11), freedom of expression (Article 10), the right to respect for private and family life (Article 8), discrimination (Article 14), the right to an effective remedy (Article 13), and the scope of limitation on use of restrictions on rights (Article 18).

The Court declared the application admissible in respect of all the articles. Also, as is indicated in the correspondence sent by the court, the court may grant the case the status of an impact case. Such a status is granted to the cases that concern issues of exceptional importance for the protection of human rights.

The Ministry of Justice in its observation concealed/did not provide the court information about the adoption of “FARA” and the amendments to the Law “On Grants”, which are mechanisms for the harassment and persecution of the civil sector and, in essence, represent a continuation of the restrictive regime established by “Russian Law”. In addition, in the opinion of the Ministry of Justice, “Russian Law” does not violate the rights protected by the Convention.

The applicants submitted information to the court about the repressive mechanisms and effects that have been used against human rights and media organizations since the entry into force of the “Russian Law”, including the recent process of seizing the organizations' bank accounts.

The special importance of the case is also indicated by the fact that 8 international human rights organizations/coalitions have requested third-party intervention in the case on behalf of 21 subjects.[1] This once again confirms the importance of the case and underlines the systemic repression against human rights defender and media organizations, which was initiated at the legislative level by “Russian Law.” Third-party interventions were submitted in the case, including by the Venice Commission and Amnesty International.

[1] International Federation Human Rights (FIDH) and Memorial Human Rights Defence Center (Memorial); Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU), Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS, Argentina), Egyptian Personal Rights Initiative, Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Kenya Human Rights Commission, KontraS (Indonesia), Legal Resources Centre (South Africa); Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Clean Air Action Group, Háttér Society, K-Monitor, Ökotárs; Foundation, Power of Humanity Foundation, Transparency International Hungary; Media Defence; Amnesty International; Crew Against Torture (CAT); ADF (Alliance Defending Freedom) International; European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission).