人权观察组织星期一说，俄罗斯首次根据含混的所谓“外国代理人法”起诉人权活动人士。
俄罗斯当局星期一告知女性权益组织负责人瓦伦蒂娜·切雷瓦坦科，她受到刑事起诉。
俄罗斯当局说，该组织接受外国资助，因此切雷瓦坦科知道应将该组织作为“外国代理人”进行登记，但她没有依法办事。
2012年以来，俄罗斯当局利用“外国代理人法”将接受外国资助和参与政治活动的组织列入黑名单。这一含混的法律认为这些组织的行为带有背叛性，俄罗斯已有100多个组织因为这一法律被列入黑名单，其中不少是慈善机构，他们被迫减少活动，或停止运作。
这项法律授权检察机构取缔任何被视为威胁的外国及国际组织，此外，检察机构还有权对屡教不改为这些组织工作的俄罗斯公民进行罚款和监禁，刑期最高6年。
Russia has for the first time charged a human rights activist for failing to comply with its vague "foreign agents" law, Human Rights Watch said Monday.
On Monday, Russian authorities informed Valentina Cherevatenko, chair of the coordination board of "Women of the Don Union", that they were bringing criminal charges against her.
Russian authorities said Cherevatenko was aware that she was required to register her organization as a "foreign agent" because it received foreign funding, but she neglected to do so.
Russian authorities have been using a “foreign agents” law from 2012 to blacklist groups receiving international funding and engaging in activities deemed political. The vague law implies such activities are disloyal and has been applied to more than 100 Russian organizations, many of them charities forced to scale back their activities or shut down.
The law gives prosecutors the power to shut down any foreign and international organizations in Russia deemed a threat, and to fine and imprison any Russian repeat offenders working with them for up to six years.
