Activities Of Prominent Russian Rights Group Suspended

For Human Rights leader Lev Ponomaryov

Russia's Justice Ministry has suspended the activities of a leading human rights group over its failure to comply with previous warnings about alleged violations of Russian law.

A spokesman for the For Human Rights group, which is led by veteran rights activist Lev Ponomaryov, said the group's activities had been halted until August 10.

Ponomaryov said the alleged violations were of "a formal character."

He said they were not linked to the group's refusal to comply with the so-called "foreign agents" law.

Rights activists have criticized the March 2013 law, which requires nongovernmental groups to register as "foreign agents" if they receive funding from abroad, as a crackdown on civil society.

At the peak of the campaign against "foreign agents," police raided the Moscow offices of the group, saying its lease had been terminated.

Based on reporting by "Novaya gazeta"