The Russian Supreme Court began, this Thursday (25), to analyze a request for the dissolution of the central structure of the NGO Memorial, a historic pillar of the struggle for democracy in Russia whose ban would represent a sad milestone.
The end of the organization would be the culmination of months of pressure against voices critical of power in Russia, with the closure of independent newspapers and NGOs considered “foreign agents” by the courts.
As for opponent Alexei Navalny, he was arrested and his movement dismantled for “extremism”.
Founded in 1989 by dissidents, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov, Memorial began by documenting Stalinist executions and the history of the Gulag, and then expanded its activities to defend human rights and political prisoners.
Over the years, it has become the leading Russian rights group, making it a target of attacks by the authorities.
The NGO was distinguished by its investigations into abuses in Chechnya, which cost the life of its collaborator Natalia Estemirova, who was murdered in 2009. More recently, Memorial has criticized the “Wagner” group paramilitaries for alleged war crimes in Syria.
But now it faces the biggest threat of its existence: the Russian Attorney General’s Office demanded on 8 November the liquidation of its central entity, Memorial International, which coordinates the NGO’s networking work.
It has a decentralized structure, made up of dozens of independent entities in Russia and abroad.
– “Insult” –
A sign of the NGO’s importance, dozens of people gathered this Thursday morning in front of the court to express their solidarity, some wearing a black mask on which was written “Memorial cannot be banned”, as noted by AFP.
Memorial “defends a Russia where human rights mean something and to ban it would be an insult to millions” of people who suffered in Soviet times, 48-year-old philosophy professor Maria Kretchetova told AFP.
Vladimir Nemanov, a 25-year-old lawyer, also attended the demonstration in front of the court to support the NGO, as it was “the only way” to defend it.
Under Russian law, the Supreme Court must consider the dissolution request because Memorial is registered as an international organization.
This means that the NGO lawyers will not be able to appeal the Court’s decision in other courts in Russia.
The Russian prosecutor’s office accuses Memorial International of having repeatedly violated the law on “foreign agents”, which it has been subject to since 2016.
Under the law, “foreign agents” must present themselves as such in all their publications and must undergo lengthy administrative processes.
In principle, the Supreme Court cannot prohibit, by a single decision, all the structures of Memorial in Russia, because each one has its own legal entity, and it would be necessary to close them one by one.
However, the members of the NGO fear that the courts will find a maneuver to arbitrarily liquidate the entire network.
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