 • Human Rights Defenders in the OSCE Region a legal requirement under stricter NGO laws.58 Deregistration proceedings were started against another NGO because it had supposedly not sent a proper change of address to the registration and tax authorities.59 An LGBTrights NGO was threatened with closure for acting “against the laws and morality rules”. The chief public prosecutor decided, however, to reject the application for the closure of this NGO.60 Local and international NGOs were the target of deregistration proceedings.61 3. The abuse of criminal charges. NGOs involved in human rights activities were frequently charged with crimes for politically motivated reasons. One human rights NGO was charged with tax evasion for taxes for which it was exempted under an international agreement (and which, as a court had already decided, it was not obliged to pay), and subsequently had its equipment removed to start paying off its debt.62 4 Official warnings. NGOs involved in human rights activities were stifled in their freedom of association and expression by official warnings from prosecutors. One NGO was officially warned by prosecutors to remove an analysis of the legality of banning certain publications by a banned Muslim organization from its website.63 Another NGO was told it was under investigation because its press releases were of an “extremist” nature.64 One defender was informed that his NGO’s work “incited social, racial or ethnic 58 Case of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (Russian Federation), FIDH/OMCT, “Russian Federation: Closure of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, a new step into the repression of civil society”, press release, 25 January 2007. 59 Case of the NGO International Standard (Russian Federation), FIDH/OMCT, op. cit., note 19, p. 537. 60 Case of the Rainbow Solidarity and Cultural Association for Transgenders, Gays and Lesbians (Gokkusagi Dernegi) (Turkey), UN SRSG, op. cit., note 15, para. 686; additional information provided by the Government of Turkey. 61 HRW, “World Report 2007”, p. 445 (Uzbekistan); UN SRSG, op. cit., note 15, paras. 709, 714, 724 (Uzbekistan). 62 Case of the Belarus Helsinki Committee (Belarus), “Human Rights in the OSCE Region: Europe, Central Asia and North America, Report 2007 (Events of 2006)”, English version, IHF, p. 254; HRW, “Belarus: A Last Vestige of Civil Society Comes Under Attack”, press release, 14 December 2006. 63 Case of the NGO Memorial (Russian Federation), FIDH/OMCT, op. cit., note 19, p. 529. 64 Case of the NGO CCNS (Russian Federation), FIDH/OMCT, op. cit., note 19, pp. 534-535.