Human rights defender Gannushkina*’s appeal in defence of Gatagazheva results in institution of administrative case

The prosecutor’s office drew up an administrative protocol on failure to fulfil the duties of a foreign agent against human rights defender Svetlana Gannushkina*, who, while sending in her personal correspondence the information on the case against Ingushetia resident Leyla Gatagazheva, did not indicate her status of a foreign agent.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on June 18, after the house arrest of Leyla Gatagazheva, a native of Ingushetia, accused of involvement in the ranks of Syrian militants, expired, a court released the young woman under written recognizance not to leave the place of her residence. The court’s decision to release Leyla Gatagazheva under written recognizance not to leave the place gave hope that the criminal case against her would be closed, advocates suggest.

In his resolution, the public prosecutor indicated that Svetlana Gannushkina* forwarded from her personal email box the reference information from the “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence* concerning the case of 23-year-old Leyla Gatagazheva to the personal email box of the Russian Ombudsperson Tatiana Moskalkova. In her letter, Svetlana Gannushkina* requested Tatiana Moskalkova to pay attention to the case, noting that Leyla Gatagazheva, a resident of Ingushetia, is a young mother taking care of her two minor children alone.

Svetlana Gannushkina* believes that the staff of the Russian Ombudsperson’s office forwarded the reference information along with their letter to the Ingush prosecutor’s office. However, the staff of the Russian Ombudsperson’s office forgot to mention that the Russian Ministry of Justice considers Svetlana Gannushkina* a “foreign agent.”

Svetlana Gannushkina* emphasized that she wrote a personal letter to Tatiana Moskalkova. “I sent an email to her personal, not work email address. It seems to me that the law does not require me to label myself as a ‘foreign agent’ in my personal correspondence. At least, the law contains no such written requirement,” the human rights defender stated.

Journalist Elena Milashina treats the protocol drawn up against the human rights defender as revenge for making the information public.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.

** As reported on the website of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the reason for including on March 1, 2024, the unregistered “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence (CHRD) into the roster of foreign agents was the spread of “inaccurate information aimed at creating a negative image of the Russian Federation, as well as the Russian Armed Forces.”