Watchdog

Moscow city authorities have refused to allow human rights activists to stage a protest in front of Turkmenistan's embassy on December 19 in support of jailed Turkmen journalists.

The Memorial Human Rights Center said on December 16 that city officials justified their refusal by saying the protest could affect "heavy public transport flow" in the area close to the embassy.

Memorial says the refusal was politically motivated.

An application to conduct the protest was filed by Memorial activist Bakhrom Khamroyev, who is originally from Uzbekistan.

The idea to stage the demonstration was initiated by the Association of Central Asian Political Immigrants in Russia after authorities in Turkmenistan on December 3 arrested 27-year-old RFE/RL correspondent Khudayberdy Allashov on charges of illegal possession of chewing tobacco.

The United States, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and RFE/RL have all called on Turkmenistan to immediately release Allashov.

BRUSSELS -- The European Union (EU) condemned Russia's controversial "foreign agent" law after a Moscow court upheld the Justice Ministry's decision to designate a prominent human rights organization as a foreign agent.

The Zamoskvorechye District Court upheld the ministry’s October decision to add the Memorial International Society to the registry of foreign agents on December 16.

This listing brought the number of NGOs affiliated with Memorial on the registry to eight and the total number of Russian NGOs designated as foreign agents to 149.

The EU said in its December 16 statement that the 2012 law "and the ensuing fines, inspections, and stigmatization further tighten the restrictions on the exercise of fundamental freedoms in Russia, consume the scarce resources of NGOs and inhibit independent civil society in the country."

The EU urged Russian authorities "to align their policies and legislation with the human rights obligations and commitments that they have undertaken, and to abandon the practice of branding Russian NGOs as 'foreign agents,' as well as all resulting administrative harassment."

The EU also vowed to keep on supporting NGOs and civil society in Russia, "despite existing difficulties."

The law, signed by President Vladimir Putin early in his third term, requires any nongovernmental organization that receives funding from abroad and is deemed to be engaged in political activity to formally register as a "foreign agent."

Russian and international human rights organizations say the law was introduced to silence independent voices.

With reporting by RFE/RL Correspondent Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels