Homophobic Pariah State Russia Shuts Groups

Amnesty International, the leading human rights organisation, reports that the Russian authorities have effectively closed down their Moscow branch by delisting it as a permitted group.  The group, that has long documented civil rights violations against many minorities in the country, has been closed alongside other rights groups including Human Rights Watch, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, and Friedrich Ebert Foundation.  Agnes Callamard, the International General Secretary of Amnesty, noted “The authorities are deeply mistaken if they believe that by closing down our office in Moscow they will stop our work documenting and exposing human rights violations. We continue undeterred to work to ensure that people in Russia are able to enjoy their human rights without discrimination. We will redouble our efforts to expose Russia’s egregious human rights violations both at home and abroad”.