(Moscow) A Russian organization that records political arrests and provides legal aid to detainees said on Saturday that the government had blocked its website, the most recent step in Moscow’s months-long crackdown on independent media and organizations defense of human rights.
OVD-Info reported that Russian internet and communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has blocked its site. The organization said in a tweet on Twitter that it had not been officially informed of the decision and did not know the reason for the move beyond the fact that it had been ordered to shut down its site by a court Monday.
The website was not accessible to Russian internet users on Saturday and was listed on the government register of banned pages. In light of the decision, OVD-Info urged its supporters to follow its pages on social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Russian social network VK, and messaging app Telegram.
In comments to the Interfax news agency, Roskomnadzor said the website was blocked because, according to the court ruling, it was involved in “propaganda of terrorism and extremism” by posting content aimed at “Justify the actions of extremist and terrorist groups”.
The agency said social media platforms have been asked to remove the group’s accounts.
OVD-Info co-founder Grigory Okhotin dismissed the charges Saturday in an interview with The Associated Press.
“Of course, we are sure that we are not justifying extremism and terrorism,” he said. “Of course, we write about these subjects, it’s our job, but we don’t justify extremism or terrorism.”
Grigory Okhotin said the decision to block the website came as a surprise, even though the group knew that the prosecutor’s office in Lukhovitsy, a town 120 kilometers southeast of Moscow, had opened an investigation.
“Our lawyer went there, but they refused to provide documents or to explain anything on the merits of the case,” said Grigory Okhotin. “Of course, we didn’t know it was going to go to court so quickly. ”
OVD-Info has gained notoriety for its monitoring and meticulous inventory of arrests during street protests in Russia. Activists began the practice during mass protests sparked by a parliamentary election in 2011 marred by numerous denunciations of electoral fraud. They then formed a group which continued the work over the years.
The data has been vital to news outlets over time as Russian authorities have largely kept silent or downplayed the scale of mass arrests during protests.
OVD-Info also functions as a legal aid group, delegating lawyers to help protesters detained in police stations and in courts. In September, an international human rights organization based in Sweden awarded OVD-Info with the Civil Rights Defender of the Year award.
That same month, Russian authorities designated the group as a “foreign agent” – a label that comes with excessive government scrutiny and strong pejorative overtones that may discredit the group. The founders of OVD-Info are committed to continuing the work of the organization despite this designation.
Russian authorities have stepped up pressure on rights groups, media and journalists in recent months, naming dozens of “foreign agents”. Some have been declared “undesirable” – a label that de facto prohibits the activities of an organization in the country – or accused of having links with “undesirable” groups.
The Russian Justice Ministry on Friday added two more advocacy groups to the register of foreign agents: Coming Out and Revers, which advocate for LGBT rights and provide assistance to the struggling Russian LGBT community.
Russian law requires a non-governmental organization, media outlet, informal movement, or individual to be listed as a foreign agent when the group or person receives foreign funding – even a small donation from a foreign national counts.
OVD-Info, along with other rights groups, launched a campaign in September to abolish the “foreign agents” law. By the end of December, more than 240 organizations and more than 260,000 people had signed a petition calling the law “discriminatory and illegal”.
OVD-Info submitted the signatures to the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma.
Gregory Okhotin called the closure of the website “another round of pressure on us and on civil society.” He said he believed OVD-Info was being targeted because of its importance and its campaign against the “foreign agent” legislation.
“We are very tall, we are very visible, we are supported by a large number of people in Russia,” said Gregory Okhotin, adding that more than 100,000 Russians support OVD-Info with their donations.
He said the group would continue to inform Russians about the political crackdown despite the website being unavailable to citizens.
“We will certainly find some form or another to keep the public informed,” he told The Associated Press.