Writers, scientists and actors urged Putin not to sign the law on natural persons the registered as a foreign agent

“Absurd and unconstitutional law”

Writers, scientists and actors urged Putin not to sign the law on natural persons the registered as a foreign agent

Human rights activists, cultural figures, academics and journalists signed a petition, urging Russian President Putin not to sign a law allowing citizens to recognize foreign agents. A statement published on the website of the movement “For human rights”.

The authors of the letter called the law “absurd and unconstitutional”. It infringes on the basic constitutional rights to challenge its application in court is almost impossible, the appeal says. “The law introduces measures of coercion, which involve limiting the rights of citizens to freely receive and disseminate information from any source. The label of a foreign agent discreditied person in the eyes of his fellow citizens, detract from his dignity, despite the fact that he didn’t do anything wrong and illegal,” reads the letter.

The statement was signed by 59 people. Among them human rights activists Lev Ponomaryov and Valery Borshchev, musician Andrei Makarevich, writers Dmitry Bykov and Lyudmila Ulitskaya, publisher Irina Prokhorova, actress Leah Akhedzhakova, the politician Lev Shlosberg and others.

On 21 November, the law on natural persons the registered as foreign agents was adopted in the state Duma, on 25 November it was approved by the Federation Council. Now the document is to be signed to the President.

According to the law, a foreign agent may be considered any person who disseminates information materials to the media-registered as foreign agents, and get money or “other property” from foreign countries. Now in the registry of foreign agents included such media as the “Voice of America”, “Radio Freedom”, “Pictograph”, “Sibir.Realities”, “Idel.Realities”, “The Caucasus.Reality” and “Crimea.Realities”.

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