Asmik Novikova is a Russian human rights activist. She is senior research analyst at the Public Verdict Foundation in Moscow. In the past she worked at the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Demos Centre.
Russia’s new NGO law forcing organisations to register as ‘foreign agents’ continues to take its toll. ‘Public Verdict’ Foundation, who help victims of police abuse, will not consent to this label. They may have to close down. Asmik Novikova and Natalya Taubina write movingly of their work.
Reform of the Russian police, initiated in 2009 by then president Dmitry Medvedev, is still ongoing and mired in controversy. Asmik Novikova and Natalya Taubina of the ‘Public Verdict’ Foundation offer a progress report.