George and Amal Clooney Foundation Activities Banned in Russia

The Russian Attorney General's Office announced that the George Clooney Foundation, led by American actor George Clooney and his wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, has been deemed "undesirable" and thus banned from operating in Russia. In a statement released on Monday, August 29, the Russian Prosecutor's Office claimed that the Clooney Foundation for Justice "conducts extensive work aimed at discrediting Russia and actively supports false patriots and members of banned extremist and terrorist groups." The judicial body added that members of the Clooney Foundation "under the guise of humanitarian ideas, are attempting to pursue criminal prosecution against the highest officials of Russia." The press release concluded that "the activities of the Clooney Foundation for Justice in our country [Russia] are declared undesirable." George Clooney, a famous Hollywood actor, and his wife Amal Clooney, a Lebanese-born lawyer, engage in human rights activities worldwide through the Clooney Foundation for Justice. According to the Clooney Foundation for Justice, since the onset of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the foundation's team of international lawyers and investigators has been gathering evidence and preparing documentation detailing the violations committed by Russian forces in Ukraine. Evidence and documentation of Russian war crimes in Ukraine were submitted to German prosecutors. Last November, the George Clooney Foundation submitted three cases containing evidence related to Russian war crimes in Ukraine to German federal prosecutors and called for an investigation. The human rights organization reported on Thursday, November 4, that it has taken on the representation of 16 survivors and families of victims of these crimes and has compiled detailed cases in this regard. One of these cases was formed in collaboration with a Ukrainian NGO (Truth Hounds). Since the beginning of its military attack on Ukraine, the Russian government has intensified crackdowns against any dissenting voices regarding this invasion. Earlier this month, the Russian Attorney General's Office declared the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which aims to promote democracy, as "undesirable." Additionally, last month, the activities of the Russian news agency Moscow Times were banned. Amal Clooney, a prominent human rights lawyer, has previously won the Committee to Protect Journalists award. This international law attorney was also a member of a panel of legal experts tasked with advising the International Criminal Court prosecutors on human rights violations in the current Gaza war based on the "Rome Statute" under which the court was established. The Clooney Foundation helps three thousand Syrian refugee children go to school. In May of this year, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague announced that he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli leaders and leaders of the extremist group Hamas on charges of "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity," and this panel supported this decision. Amal Clooney's involvement in this case has led to attacks against her and her husband on social media, particularly from supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu, and according to American media reports, it has also caused tensions in George Clooney's relationship with the White House. Mr. Clooney is one of the most influential members of the Democratic Party in the United States. In 2017, George Clooney and his wife Amal announced that they would help three thousand Syrian children living in Lebanon go to school.