A court ruled on 13 October to close down the Russian Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS) an organization that monitors human rights violations in Chechnya and provides assistance to victims of the conflict. The ruling in the week of the murder of journalist, Anna Politkovskaya signals a determined effort to silence those who speak out about human rights in Chechnya.
The decision is the latest in an array of judicial and legal harassments against RCFS and its staff. Russian authorities have charged RCFS of violating a range of laws including charges of tax evasion based on claims of grants received, in February 2006, Stanislav Dmitrievsky, the Director of RCFS and editor of its newspaper was convicted of inciting racial hatred under the Russian Federal Criminal Code. The charges are a result of articles featuring statements from leading Chechen separatists’ condemning the war. There is also a pending court decision to liquidate the organization. 
