For Human Rights and the Moscow Helsinki Group say they will fight to remain in their offices, which they both have occupied for more than a decade at cut-rate rents.
The threat of eviction looms at a time when a community of human rights activists, locked in perpetual battle over grievances over issues such as state violence in the Caucasus region and dismal conditions in Russian prisons, say they face increasing pressure and harassment.
The Moscow Helsinki Group is Russia’s oldest human rights organization, tracing its roots to the 1970s.
The group was informed in writing of its impending eviction in the spring. “Nobody has come officially to our office. Nobody has notified us in person,” said Anastasia Aseyeva, administrative director of the Moscow Helsinki Group. “We have repeatedly asked them why this is happening, and never get an answer.”
A spokeswoman for Moscow’s Government Property Department said that the building where Moscow Helsinki Group has its offices was being renovated. The human rights organization countered that the building’s other tenants were not being asked to leave.
For Human Rights, meanwhile, was “careless” and had broken the rules of the apartment house, city spokeswoman Natalia Bykova said.
“Since they revealed themselves as careless tenants, and given the fact that the other residents are categorically against this organization being there, they will be evicted and we’re not going to offer them other space options,” Bykova said.
Downtown Moscow has some of the world’s most expensive real 
estate, and battles over property often marked by corruption and pressure are a regular feature.
“If it were just my organization, then maybe I could believe there’s some commercial intrigue behind it,” Ponomaryov said. “But there are two of us in the same boat. It’s definitely politically motivated.”
