Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Human Rights Group Says Moscow Office Sealed

by VOA News

   Amnesty International says staff of its Moscow branch arrived at work
   Wednesday morning to find their office sealed with a notice from
   municipal authorities warning people not to enter.

   The international rights group said the locks on the doors of its
   office in the Russian capital had been changed and that no explanation
   had been given.

   "We do not know what prompted Moscow authorities to prevent our staff
   from accessing our offices -- an unwelcome surprise for which we
   received no prior warning," Amnesty International Europe Director John
   Dalhuisen said in a statement. "Given the current climate for civil
   society work in Russia, there are clearly any number of plausible
   explanations, but it's too early to draw any conclusions."

   Dalhuisen said he hoped there was "a simple administrative explanation
   for this setback to our work" and that the group had "fulfilled all our
   obligations as tenants." Amnesty International rents its Moscow office
   from the city authorities, whom the group says it has been unable to
   reach to resolve the situation.

   Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he knew nothing about the closure
   of Amnesty International's Moscow office.

   On Tuesday, Amnesty International called on Russian authorities to
   investigate allegations made by Ildar Dadin, a jailed anti-Kremlin
   protester, that he had been beaten and tortured in prison. The [1]group
   demanded that Dadin be immediately and unconditionally released.

   Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service said in a statement Wednesday
   that a "commission of independent doctors" had physically examined
   Dadin at the northwestern Russian prison where he is incarcerated and
   found no evidence he had been beaten or "signs of previous injuries,"
   Russia's Tass state news agency reported.

References

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