Russia: Open Russia’s account frozen

On March 16 the Moscow Basmanny court decided to freeze all accounts of the Russian Charitable foundation “Open Russia?. “Open Russia? was founded in 2001 by the Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky with the aim to support the creation of democratic institutes and the development of a civil society in Russia. Since the detention of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in October 2004 and his subsequent sentence to 9 years in prison the foundation itself and several of the projects and NGOs having received funding from “Open Russia? have been subject to permanent tax audits and verifications. In a recent appeal “Open Russia? is applying to Russian and Foreign Donors for support for ist 47 regional projects that will be left without financing after April 1st. en.openrussia.info/activities_en