VNDesirable organization – Newspaper Kommersant No. 39 (7484) dated 03/09/2023

The European Court of Human Rights found that the Russian authorities in 2020 illegally canceled the residence permit of the head of the Justice Initiative project (included in the register of foreign agents), US citizen Vanessa Kogan. Migration services and Russian courts then stated that the human rights activist, according to the FSB, poses a “threat to national security.” At the same time, they did not take into account that Mrs. Kogan lived in Russia for 11 years, got married here and gave birth to two children. Now the ECtHR considered that the cancellation of the residence permit was caused by Russia’s desire to interfere with its human rights activities.

Vanessa Kogan, a citizen of the United States of America, headed one of the most famous human rights organizations in Russia, the Justice Initiative project. Employees of the “Initiative” help victims of torture and armed conflicts, handle cases of discrimination based on religion and violation of freedom of speech. In addition, the organization conducts “strategic work against domestic violence” and combats discrimination against women and children. Mrs. Kogan has lived in Russia since 2009, she married a citizen of the Russian Federation here and gave birth to two children. In 2017, she received a residence permit, and in 2020 she applied for Russian citizenship. As Kommersant told, she was denied citizenship and at the same time canceled her residence permit (permit). In fact, this meant that she had to leave the country. At the same time, employees of the migration center reported that the human rights activist is a “threat to the security of the Russian Federation.”

Ms. Kogan applied to the court with a demand to cancel this decision and “apply interim measures of protection”, that is, to suspend the expulsion procedure until the court decision. She also applied to the ECtHR, which issued an emergency decision to suspend the expulsion. However, the Russian court denied Mrs. Kogan protection measures and she was forced to leave Russia.

In January 2021, the Koptevsky Court of Moscow recognized the FSB as an “interested party” in the proceedings on the lawsuit of a human rights activist. However, the court refused to involve intelligence officers as witnesses. Instead, a “classified” FSB report appeared in the case file, which, however, was not available to Vanessa Kogan’s lawyers. As a result, the court ruled that the decision to annul the residence permit was made “in accordance with the law.” This decision was later upheld on appeal, although the Moscow City Court admitted that the annulment of the residence permit constituted “interference” in family life protected by the Constitution. But the “protection of socially significant values”, according to the court, turned out to be more important. The Second Cassation and Supreme Courts came to the same conclusions in 2021 and 2022.

Ms. Kogan linked the decision to cancel the residence permit with the activities of the “Legal Initiative”. In February 2023, she left the post of head of the organization.

On March 7, the ECHR concluded that Russia violated Kogan’s right to “respect for private life” (Article 8 of the Convention). According to the court, there was no convincing evidence of a “security threat” in the case file. Strasbourg stated the political motives for pressure on the human rights activist and announced the intention of the authorities to “interfere” with the work of the “Legal Initiative” in the Russian Federation. The ECHR ruled to pay Ms. Kogan compensation of €9.8 thousand for violation of rights and another €6.5 thousand in legal costs.

In the current situation, she cannot count on payments, since Russia withdrew from the Council of Europe in 2022 and ceased to fulfill obligations under the decisions of the ECHR. Despite this, Ms Kogan speaks of a principled victory: “The real reason Russia withdrew my residence permit has nothing to do with ‘national security’ and is most likely to stop our human rights work.”

Maria Starikova