MOSCOW COURT UPHOLDS DECSION NOT TO REGISTER GLASNOST FOUNDATION.

A Moscow court yesterday backed the decision of city officials to deny registration to the Glasnost Foundation, one of Russia’s oldest human rights groups, which is run by the veteran Soviet-era dissident and human rights activist Sergei Grigoryants. The group had protested the city authorities’ decision to deny registration. Grigoryants said yesterday that he believed that Russia’s Justice Ministry had a deliberate policy not to register human rights organizations. One newspaper today noted that at a roundtable organized by the foundation two years ago, a Justice Ministry official had stated that his office would push for shutting down human rights groups which act as defense lawyers in civil and criminal cases. Officials of the city government’s justice department were quoted as saying that the foundation last January had simply filled out its registration papers in a sloppy manner and that it would receive registration when it reapplies. But Grigoryants said that city officials had failed to point out the mistakes made in the paperwork (Moscow Times, May 20).

The Glasnost Foundation, which started its human rights activities during the Soviet era, has more recently focused on defending victims of police brutality. In refusing to register the group, city officials also reportedly complained about its name, saying it does not reflect the group’s activities. Similar objections have not been raised about other groups, such as Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.

MILITARY INCIDENT IN ESTONIA.