Penza, 29 August 2014. PenzaNews. The Penza region authorities have no claims against the activities of the regional branch of the public organization “Russian historical, educational, charitable and human rights society ‘Memorial’,” said Sergei Pulikovsky, deputy chairman and head of department for cooperation with state authorities and local self-government of the Penza region, during the 20th regular session of the Legislative Assembly of the region on Friday, August 29.

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Activity of the NGO was discussed during the debates on the amendments to the resolution of the Legislative Assembly “On the commission under the government of the Penza region to restore the rights of rehabilitated victims of political repressions.”

Sergei Pulikovsky said that one of amendments deals with the change of the position name Tatiana Alferteva, leader of Penza regional branch of “Memorial”.

In connection with the reference to this organization, Georgy Kamnev, deputy of the regional parliament, and first secretary of the Communist Party regional committee, drew his colleagues’ attention to the fact that “Memorial” is included in the list of foreign agent organizations, so the decision on amendment should be postponed.

Sergei Pulikovsky disagreed with this opinion, stating that the representatives of “Memorial” are not engaged in anything reprehensible.

“Indeed, ‘Memorial’ has been deemed a foreign agent. It does not require any proof. ‘Memorial’ works differently in different regions of the Russian Federation. There have been remarks on its activities in other regions, but this is not the case in the Penza region. We achieved mutual understanding, and their social work has so far been only positive,” he stressed.

In his defense, Georgy Kamnev noted that the law on foreign agents “was adopted not without a reason.”

“When a new law on foreign agents was passed, it said that we need to define organizations who are influenced by other governments, including the United States government, by the means of financial grants. This is a unified organization, here is only a branch. If we keep looking for the evidence it is influenced from abroad, we’ll lose time,” the Communist deputy said.

Despite the mixed views of the meeting participants, the question of amending the decree of the Legislative Assembly of the region was put to a vote. Majority of votes were in favor of the proposed amendments.