‘Golos’ filed a complaint to the Court of Arbitration on the Ministry of Justice

The plaintiffs dispute the audit report based on which the organization was refused to be withdrawn from the registry of foreign agents.

Yelena Muchametshina, 'Vedomosti'

‘Golos’ filed a complaint to the Moscow Arbitration Court on audit report issued by the Justice Ministry claiming that the inspection results are null and void due to violations of the procedures stipulated by law. The complaint (‘Vedomosti’ has a copy of it) was submitted on Thursday.

The audit of the association ‘Golos’ on behalf of the Head Office of the Ministry of Justice in Moscow lasted from July 13 to August 7, following the Association request to be withdrawn from the registry of non-profit organizations (NGOs) acting as foreign agents. Based on the results of audit the Ministry of Justice refused to withdraw the association from the registry.

The inspection that resulted in refusal to withdraw ‘Golos’ from the registry, precluded the organization from engaging in economic activities, as NGOs - foreign agents are not entitled to take part in election campaigns, though it is the purpose of the association stipulated by statutory terms, as it was said in a statement.

According to the plaintiffs, the investigation procedures did not comply with the law. In particular, instead of an unscheduled on-site inspection, the unscheduled audit of bookkeeping records was carried out, there was no purpose indicated in the document for audit, besides it was not consiliated with the Prosecutor’s office. In addition, the representatives of ‘Golos’ claim that the organization rights stipulated by law to receive information, to file an objection were violated, as the act does not contain information on the right of a legal entity to file such objections.

Ministry of Justice precludes the withdrawal of Association ‘Golos’ from the Foreign Agents Registry

According to the co-chairman of movement ‘Golos’ Gregory Melkonyants, first the organization decided to appeal the audit results to the Arbitration Court as the decision of Ministry of Justice on refusing to withdraw ‘Golos’ from the registry is based on the inspection report. 'If we would directly appeal the refusal to withdraw the organization from the registry, they could refer to the uncontested inspection act, so first we want to eliminate the ground for refusal', - he explains.