The Russian Supreme Court has declared a structure that does not actually exist, the “international public movement ‘Memorial,’” to be an “extremist” organization. This was reported by “Caution, News.”
As “Word to the Defense” reported, a lawyer was not allowed to participate in the proceedings.
On March 27, the Justice Ministry demanded that the “international public movement ‘Memorial’” be recognized as an “extremist” organization.
At the same time, Memorial is a real initiative. In Russia, “International Memorial” and the Memorial Human Rights Center had previously been registered, but in 2022 they were liquidated by court decisions. After that, the initiative no longer had a legal entity in the Russian Federation.
Nevertheless, the human rights defenders continued their work. As “Mediazona” notes, Memorial has dozens of projects, but none of them bears the name “international movement.”
After the court’s decision, Memorial announced the termination of any activity on the territory of Russia. It emphasized that the initiative has no employees in the country and does not accept donations from Russian bank cards. Outside the Russian Federation, however, the human rights defenders will continue their work.
Earlier, the Norwegian Nobel Committee called on the Russian authorities to immediately withdraw the lawsuit. In addition, the committee appealed to all international actors to speak out about what is happening and take measures to protect those who are inside Russia.
As Memorial itself reported, they did not receive any notification and learned about the situation from the press.
“The case is marked ‘top secret’; we have not seen the lawsuit and probably never will. Maybe we will see the ruling in future criminal cases, but, with a high degree of probability, they will show us nothing with such a classification,” said Natalia Sekretareva, head of the legal department of the eponymous Memorial Human Rights Defense Center.
According to her, after the court’s decision, the human rights defenders intend to announce the termination of their activities in Russia.
In March 2023, searches were carried out at the homes of nine members of various Memorial organizations in a case involving the rehabilitation of Nazism. That case went no further.
At the end of 2021, the Supreme Court and the Moscow City Court ordered the liquidation of International Memorial and the Memorial Human Rights Center. The prosecutor’s office initiated the liquidation, explaining it as a violation of the law on “foreign agents.”
International Memorial was liquidated on February 28, 2022. The Human Rights Center was liquidated on April 5, 2022; on the same day, the organization’s old website stopped being updated. Then the Memorial Human Rights Defense Center was created, and all news about the human rights defenders’ activities moved entirely to social media. On October 7, 2022, Memorial received the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Russian Memorial Human Rights Center was founded in 1987. Among its founders were Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov and human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina.