Reaction from Transparency after police search offices of the NGO скачать в хорошем качестве

Reaction from Transparency after police search offices of the NGO

(27 Mar 2013) 1. Wide of employee of Transparency International, Russia entering office of director, Elena Panfilova 2. Mid of Panfilova speaking on telephone as journalists film her 3. Mid of a journalist filming Panfilova on an iPad 4. Close-up of Panfilova on the screen of iPad. 5. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Elena Panfilova, Director of Transparency International, Russia: "They (the Russian prosecutor's office) visit all of them (non-governmental organisations) and they hadn't yet come to us, so of course it was something we should have expected. But the other thing is that they are running these checks to make sure we're not an extremist organisation, and we already have a trump card, we were checked by the Ministry of Justice on February 27 and it was determined that we're not an extremist organisation. But it seems that isn't enough." 6. Close-up of Transparency International booklet. 7. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Elena Panfilova, Director of Transparency International, Russia: "The fact is, to hinder us and prevent us from completing our civic and anti-corruption activities is politically incorrect (from the standpoint of the government's own anti-corruption campaign). But from the point of view that they're trying to find "foreign agents" or unreliable citizens, well, from their point of view that's correct. And you can see how our understanding of what's incorrect confronts their idea of what's correct." 8. Wide of Transparency International Russia office building STORYLINE: Russian officials have searched the Moscow offices of Human Rights Watch and the corruption watchdog Transparency International, intensifying the recent wave of pressure on non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Transparency's Russia chief Elena Panfilova on Wednesday said the Russian prosecutor's office had conducted the search despite the fact her organisation had been checked by the Ministry of Justice in February. "They hadn't yet come to us, so of course it was something we should have expected. But the other thing is that they are running these checks to make sure we're not an extremist organisation, and we already have a trump card, we were checked by the Ministry of Justice on February 27 and it was determined that we're not an extremist organisation. But it seems that isn't enough, " she said. Panfilova said the searches are an attempt to find "foreign agents" or unreliable citizens. Another NGO, Human Rights Watch, said on Wednesday that officials from the prosecutor general's office and tax police were conducting an "unannounced audit" on their office and that they had demanded documents. Russian officials have searched as many as two thousand non-governmental groups in the past month, according to a member of the presidential human rights council, whose human rights law group is also being searched. The searches began after President Vladimir Putin gave a speech to the FSB, the KGB's successor agency, in February, urging them to focus on groups receiving foreign funding. Putin has long been suspicious of NGOs, especially those with foreign funding, which he has accused of being fronts for Western governments to meddle in Russia's political affairs. After Putin's return to the presidency last year parliament passed a law requiring all nongovernmental organisations with foreign funding that engage in political activities to register as "foreign agents", a loaded term conjuring past Soviet spy mania. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...