On Tuesday, Interfax reported that criminal charges of slander had been filed against the head of the Russian human rights organization Memorial, Oleg Orlov, by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. The charges stem from comments by Orlov regarding connections between Kadyrov and last summer’s high-profile murder of Memorial activist Natalya Estemirova.

The Chechen president, who has been denounced by rights organizations worldwide for his alleged personal involvement in individual cases of murder, torture, and other rights abuses, won an earlier civil case against Orlov in which the Memorial director was forced to pay a fine. Kadyrov then promised to stop suing human rights activists after he was criticized by his mother for disrespecting his elders. With Tuesday’s announcement, that promise appears to have been broken. Radio Free Liberty/Radio Europe reports on the Russian federal government’s misunderstanding of human rights organizations:

Well-known Russian rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina says the federal government is ignorant about the operations of human rights groups in the North Caucasus, RFE/RL’s Russian Service reports.

Gannushkina, of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Civic Assistance Committee, was reacting to reports that a Moscow court has charged Oleg Orlov, the head of the rights group Memorial, with defamation of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.

She told RFE/RL that “the dangerous part of human rights work comes from the local governments, not outside organizations.”

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in a meeting human rights activists on July 6 that he believes people need to be able “to send the government a signal” about the problems in the North Caucasus, often by going through NGOs.

But Putin warned that some NGOs in the North Caucasus are “supported by outside funds,” hinting that they are being financed by political organizations abroad.

Gannushkina said such an accusation is not new. She added that activists do not follow orders from anyone, though she admitted that most of the funding for NGOs comes from foreign and private companies.

Pyotr Gorbunenko, the Managing Director of WWF Russia, explained tо Gazeta.ru (RUS) that groups will now have to pay a steep tax on foreign funding given as grants.

“The profit tax in such cases in Russia is 24%,” he said. “Parent organizations will have to stop financing their Russian offices because they are not permitted to contribute to foreign countries’ budgets. Their grants come to Russia minus taxes, which are paid in the country of their parent companies’ registration.”

Representatives of the affected funds said the move may spark further attack against Western NGOs, an allegation denied by Putin’s press-secretary, Dmitry Peskov. NGOs in Russia say they are already hobbled by a 2005 law requiring onerous reporting and registration practices.

Some of the better-known groups affected by the decree include the Ford Foundation, the Charity Aid Foundation, the Eurasia Fund, the World Wildlife Fund, the Red Cross, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare. It appears that the funds kept on the list have ties to the government and state structures.

The decree is set to take effect on January 1st, 2009. Peskov told Kommersant that “a timely overhaul of the list will allow organizations to take account of the novelties when planning their further work.”

Sodeystvie (Assistance), which was formed in the 1990s by a refugee family from Tajikistan, helped refugee families and forced migrants integrate into society. The non-profit also set up festivals for children’s dance ensembles around Russia. It was ordered to dissolve on February 4th, 2008, by a court in the Vladimir oblast, after charges of failing to report on its activities, and failing to disclose that its location had changed. The group was compliant with tax authorities, but did not register with the necessary federal agency.

Rights activists believe this to be a precedent case, which may impact future prosecutions as authorities step up the enforcement of a 2006 law on registering non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The law, which came to effect in October 2006, required each of Russia’s estimated 500,000 NGOs to first register with the Federal Registration Agency, then file yearly paperwork with detailed reporting on all aspects of their funding and activities. Groups with any foreign funding were required to file the most details, up to and including the cost of office supplies. Small organizations in particular were concerned over the burden that the law would put on their staff and resources. Groups that fail to file in time, or file incorrectly may be taken to court and closed by authorities.

A year and a half after the law went into effect, there are some 227,000 registered NGOs. According to the state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta, only a quarter of those groups had filed correctly by this year’s April 15th deadline. A report by Human Rights Watch found that the law was having a stifling effect on Russia’s civil society, and noted that thousands of groups have been threatened and dissolved since the law went into effect. Authorities have recently pledged to step up enforcement.

Officials have argued that the new law provides necessary regulation for NGOs, and is no different from regulations in the West. Still, critics have maintained that the law is entirely too strict, and point to certain organizations that have been targeted repeatedly without explanation.

Valery Madyarov, who heads Sodeystvie, said that the decision of the court was unlawful. He plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Incidentally, Madyarov’s wife Nina also runs a non-profit organization, called the “Children’s Ballet Theater.” Prosecutors recently started an investigation into that group as well, it now faces court-ordered closure.