The Moscow City Court has ordered the closure of the prominent human rights group Memorial Human Rights Center amid a continued crackdown on civil society in Russia.
“Moscow City Court Judge Mikhail Kazakov liquidated the Memorial Human Rights Center,” Memorial said on Twitter.
The case was initiated by prosecutors under the controversial “foreign agent” law, which is increasingly being used by officials to shut down civil-society and media groups in Russia.
The day before, Russia’s Supreme Court ruled that Memorial International, a stand-alone group and the umbrella organization for many regional branches and the Memorial Human Rights Center, should be liquidated for similar reasons.
Launched shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Memorial initially focused on trying to document Soviet repression, documenting thousands of victims who ended up in the gulag network of labor camps or were summarily executed by Soviet secret police.
In the decades since, the group has produced hallmark indicators of the country’s rights situation and documented more contemporary injustices.
Memorial International is both a stand-alone group and the umbrella organization for many regional branches and the Memorial Human Rights Center, which is the main domestic entity for Memorial within Russia.
Prosecutors accuse the groups of violating the “foreign agent” law, which is increasingly being used by officials to shut down civil-society and independent media groups. Memorial has also been accused by some officials of denigrating the Soviet Union as a “terrorist state.”
“Today we heard that the filing of the claims against the Memorial International and the Human Rights Center on the same day was just a coincidence. I don’t think anyone in the audience believes it. This indicates that the goals are political. The state does not like what [Memorial] is doing and saying,” lawyer Ilya Novikov was quoted as telling the court.
“Whether a ship sinks to the bottom with its flag raised or lowers it voluntarily is extremely important,” Novikov was quoted as saying. “Memorial is going to the bottom with its flag raised, it will not be lowered.”
Responding to the Supreme Court ruling a day earlier, Memorial International said Russia’s future depended on its examination of its past.
“Our country needs an honest and conscientious reflection on the Soviet past; this is the guarantee of her future. It is ridiculous to believe that the judicial liquidation of International Memorial will remove this issue from the agenda. The entire Russian society needs to remember the tragedies of the past. And not only Russian: the memory of state terror unites all the former Soviet republics,” Memorial International said in a statement.
The Supreme Court ruling, by Judge Alla Nazarova, found Memorial International violated the “foreign agent” laws by not marking all its publications with the label, a requirement under law indicating the group receives foreign funding.
Earlier, President Vladimir Putin suggested the group was advocating for “terrorist and extremist organizations.”
The ruling was met with consternation by Western governments and human rights activists.
“We condemn today’s decision to forcibly close International Memorial, one of Russia’s most respected human rights organizations. Russian authorities should end their repression of human rights defenders and other independent voices,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter.
Memorial International “has an important role in protecting the memory of political repression and violation of human rights,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Twitter in condemning the ruling.
Rights activists say that there are no legal grounds to liquidate the organization, which counts Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov as one of its founders. They say the prosecutor-general’s demand to shut down Memorial International was “a politically motivated decision.”
The “foreign agent” law was adopted initially in 2012 and has been modified repeatedly.
It requires nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance, and that the government deems to be engaged in political activity to be registered, to identify themselves as “foreign agents,” and to submit to audits. More recent amendments have targeted media organizations, individual journalists, and even defense lawyers.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was among the first media organizations deemed to be a “foreign agent.”
