On December 28, 2011, IIFD summarized results of its first monitoring of websites belonging to community foundations. One should realize that community foundations, as grantmakers, are directly influencing solution of socially significant problems in various Russian regions and post-Soviet countries. Therefore, informational openness for general public is a primary importance task for such a foundation. The IIFD experts also have taken into account the fact that the Russian model of community foundations is now “under construction” so that its openness study becomes especially acute. Online informational openness helps to establish public trust in community foundations’ activities.

The conflict about the Khimki Forest is lasting for years; the problem becomes rather political than environmental. It now touches not only green area protection or assistance to local residents, but also fighting – corruption, authorities, and windmills also. Informational vacuum is fuelling the conflict still more.

On December 8, the Oktyabrsky district court of Arkhangelsk proclaimed in a closed(!) hearing session the introductory clauses and the resolutive parts of the convicting sentence against Alexander Dudarev and of the statement for termination of the criminal case against Prof. Mikhail Suprun. The criminal case against the historian is terminated because the statute of limitation has expired.

At 11 AM on December 8, 2011, the Oktyabrsky district court of Arkhangelsk will proclaim the sentence in the case of Professor Mikhail Suprun charged of disclosing data containing personal and family secret when he prepared the Memory Books listing name of political repressions’ victims.

A court hearing session for the criminal case against Mikhail Suprun and Alexander Dudarev lasted for three days. On October 27, Ivan Pavlov, JD, PhD, IIFD Board Chair and Suprun’s defense attorney, spoke on the case at the press conference in the Memorial Research Center (St.-Petersburg), titled The Arkhangelsk Case against Historians and Archivists in Court. “The case against Mikhail Suprun has not been a “personal” criminal case, it is the case on access to Russian archives. The future of Russian historical science may depend on this case results: will researchers be able to work in archives without being afraid of any security structures?” Pavlov says.

The Ukrainian Regional Press Development Institute has published results of its monitoring of Ukrainian government bodies’ websites for informational openness, says UBR. Average openness level over 56 official websites monitored amounts to 41%.

In August, we discussed the Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative. Up to now, Russia has not joint it yet. On October 19, 2011, Russian civic organizations, including the IIFD, discussed OGP proposals in St.-Petersburg.

On October 17, 2011, a first-instance court in Arkhangelsk held closed hearings on the criminal case against Prof. Mikhail Suprun and Colonel Alexander Dudarev. The case is lasting since September 2009, and “interested persons” sometimes seem to be not able to realize and to resolve it.

Ivan Pavlov, JD, PhD, IIFD Board Chair, and Daria Sukhikh, IIFD Senior Lawyer, supported by the International Memorial Society, present an analytical review of existing problems with law observance and implementation in the field of archive information access in Russia.

September 28 is the International Right to Know Day (RTKD). On Sep 28, 2002, The Freedom of Information Advocates Network was founded by a number of NGO leaders.