MOSCOW, Dec 28 — Russia’s Supreme Court today ordered the closure of Memorial, the country’s most prominent rights group, which chronicled Stalin-era purges and symbolised post-Soviet democratisation.
During Tuesday’s hearing a prosecutor said Memorial “creates a false image of the USSR as a terrorist state and denigrates the memory of World War II”. Memorial is a loose structure of locally registered organisations, with Memorial International maintaining the network’s extensive archives in Moscow and coordinating its work.
But the ban against Memorial International stands out even in the current climate and would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. Tuesday’s hearing was one of two cases brought against the group. Prosecutors have also demanded a court close Memorial’s Human Rights Centre, accusing it of condoning “terrorism and extremism” in addition to breaches of the “foreign agent” legislation. Memorial has campaigned for the rights of political prisoners, migrants and other marginalised groups, and highlighted abuses especially in the turbulent North Caucasus region that includes Chechnya.
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