Russian authorities have threatened to close the country’s oldest civil rights organization memorial, a well-known non-governmental organization that described the move as politically motivated.
The prosecutor has filed a lawsuit to liquidate the human rights organization on the grounds that the organization is suspected of violating Russia’s “Foreign Agent” law. If successful, the closure of the NGO will become a watershed in the Kremlin’s attack on Russian independence ideology.
The memorial was established in the late 1980s to record the political repression during the Soviet era and establish a database of victims of the Great Terror and Gulag concentration camps. It has also become an outspoken advocate of civil rights in modern Russia. Its founders include the famous dissident Andrei Sakharov (Andrei Sakharov).
On Thursday, Memorial stated that it had received a court subpoena indicating that the prosecutor was attempting to liquidate the organization under the “Foreign Agent” law.
The International Memorial Committee wrote in a statement: “We believe that there is no legal basis for the removal of the memorial.” “This is a political decision to eliminate the Memorial Association, which deals with the history of political repression and the protection of human rights.”
Memorial is one of the first organizations to be included in Russia’s “Foreign Agents” list in 2014. Since then, it has been fined at least 21 times for allegedly violating the “Foreign Agent” law, and in 2020 stated that the fine has exceeded 4.2 million rubles (£44,000). Its premises have also become the target of graffiti attacks and police raids.
Memorial opposed the “foreign agent” law, saying it was “introduced to eradicate independent organizations.” Russian prosecutors had previously threatened to close the organization in 2014. According to reports, the Ministry of Justice liquidated a memorial branch in the Komi region of northern Russia in 2019.
Last year, the organization recognized supporters Alexei Navalny As a political prisoner, he said that the increasing suppression of the opposition is similar to the Soviet era.
The court hearing is scheduled for November 25.
