"Germany's international public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, has been declared an "undesirable organization" in Russia, the Prosecutor General's Office announced on Sunday. Authorities have been able to designate organizations "undesirable" after a 2015 law declared that any noncommercial body with foreign connections or funding that could allegedly constitute a threat to Russia's constitutional order could be shut down. The law was used mainly to shut down foreign nongovernmental organizations and included the Moscow offices of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other NGOs."
"In July 2024, Russia's parliament passed amendments to the law that declared that any organization with founders or participants who are foreign government agencies could be designated "undesirable." This broadened which organizations could fall into that category, and since then a number of international media, research and civil society organizations have been designated "undesirable." By August 2024, members of the lower house of the Duma announced their intent to deem DW "undesirable.""
Russia designated Deutsche Welle an "undesirable organization" under a law that allows shutting down noncommercial bodies with foreign links deemed a threat to the constitutional order. The 2015 law was previously used to close foreign nongovernmental organizations, including Moscow offices of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. July 2024 amendments expanded the law to include organizations with founders or participants tied to foreign government agencies, widening the scope to media, research and civil society groups. DW was labeled a "foreign agent" in 2022 and is funded by Germany's federal budget; its Moscow bureau closed in 2022. The designation adds DW to a blacklist of over 280 organizations and creates legal peril for those involved with the broadcaster in Russia.
Read at www.dw.com
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