Russia: Human rights lawyer Grigory Vaypan labelled as “foreign agent”

The Observatory has been informed about the designation of Mr Grigory Vaypan, a well-known Russian lawyer and human rights activist, as a “foreign agent”. Mr Vaypan has collaborated with the Memorial Human Rights Defence Centre (HRDC “Memorial”), a member organisation of FIDH, and was the lead author of two FIDH reports on Russia: Crimes against history, published in June 2021, and Overcoming the Past: An Overview of Memorial’s Transitional Justice Jurisprudence in Russia, published in November 2022.

On July 5, 2024, the Russian Ministry of Justice declared Grigory Vaypan a “foreign agent”, stating that he “disseminated false information about the decisions made by the public authorities of the Russian Federation and their policies, and spoke out against the special military operation in Ukraine. He participated in the creation of messages and materials for an unlimited audience by foreign agents, and also participated as a respondent on information platforms provided by foreign agents. He took part in an event organised by foreign agents.”

This designation is linked to Mr Vaypan’s human rights work in Russia, including defending the right of elderly Russian citizens, known as the “children of the Gulag”, to return to the place of residence of their parents who had been deported to Gulag camps during the Soviet terror of the 1930s and 1940s, but also to his prominent rejection and criticism of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Mr Vaypan also represented the interests of International Memorial and the Memorial Human Rights Centre (Memorial HRC) in court, when the Russian authorities decided to liquidate these two oldest human rights organisations, under the “foreign agent” legislation, at the end of 2021 on the eve of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

As of July 19, 2024, the Russian register of “foreign agents”, which is maintained by the Ministry of Justice, contains 838 individuals and organisations. Among others, it includes numerous leading Russian human rights organisations, such as HRDC Memorial, which was founded on June 14, 2022, by a team of friends and former employees of Memorial HRC in response to the liquidation of the organisation, and OVD Info, as well as many prominent human rights defenders. The Observatory recalls that, on February 2, 2024, Oleg Orlov, ex-co-chair of HRDC “Memorial”, who is arbitrarily imprisoned, and three other members of the organisation were also labelled as "foreign agents" by the Russian Ministry of Justice.

The designation of persons and entities as “foreign agents” entails a series of obligations: “foreign agents” are required to submit financial reports every three months, carry out annual mandatory audits, and any information published or disseminated by such persons has to contain a reference to it being published or disseminated by a “foreign agent”. In addition, numerous formal and informal restrictions have been imposed on these persons, such as the inability to be elected, the ban on working in the public service or the ban on teaching.

Additionally, the designation of persons and entities as “foreign agents” is highly stigmatising and discrediting, as it implies that such persons or entities serve foreign interests and do not work to the benefit of their own communities or country.

The Observatory strongly condemns the designation of Grigory Vaypan as a “foreign agent” and calls on the Russian authorities to immediately withdraw his name from the register of “foreign agents”.

The Observatory further calls on the authorities in Russia to guarantee, in all circumstances, the right to freedom of expression, as enshrined in international human rights standards, and particularly in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.