Foundation
Attacks on the Open Dialogue Foundation
Since the beginning of our work, we have been taking action against individuals, governments and other institutions committing human rights abuses and violating the rule of law. These include regimes in authoritarian states, post-Soviet oligarchs and ruling parties in some European countries. We have thus gained powerful opponents with virtually unlimited financial resources, which have been used to attack the Foundation and its representatives for many years.
The Foundation’s original statutory aims included the protection of human rights, democracy and the rule of law in the post-Soviet area. Initially, we remained focused primarily on Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine. Between 2016 and 2019, we campaigned against the kleptocratic rule of Vladimir Plahotniuc in Moldova. Since July 2017, we have been defending of the rule of law in Poland, the country where our organisation was founded. We fight for the freedom of political prisoners, advocate for Interpol reform, demand systemic sanctions against dictatorships and personal sanctions against state criminals and kleptocrats. We document and disclose cases of torture, political killings and war crimes. Since 2014, the Open Dialogue Foundation has supported Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression.
Remaining a target of constant surveillance, harassment, disinformation and smear campaigns as well as numerous administrative, prosecutorial and judicial proceedings of a SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) nature we do not leave these attacks unanswered. Sadly, persistently debunking multiple slanders and taking legal actions in our own defence have become part of our daily work. Currently, we are winning subsequent lawsuits in Poland and other countries.