Russian judiciary bans Sakaro’s NGO | Memorial International said it would challenge the verdict

Russian Supreme Court orders closure of NGO memory, Recognized for defending civil rights and its role as a defender of the history of the victims of the Soviet Kulak, “For systematic violations of the laws on foreign agents.” The ruling satisfies the attorney general’s office, accusing the organization of “creating a false image of the Soviet Union as a terrorist state.” Shortly after the verdict was announced, the memorial said in a statement that it would challenge the Supreme Court’s ruling and find legal ways to proceed.

Court Attorney, Alexei Zafiarov, The monument was accused of “distorting” the memory of victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War (1941-45) and rehabilitating Nazi criminals as “whose hands are the blood of Soviet citizens”. “Why should we, the descendants of the conquerors, now look at the efforts to rehabilitate the homeland from traitors and Nazi allies? (…) Of course someone is paying, “Zafiarov said.

“Shame! Shame!”Hundreds of people gathered in front of the Supreme Court building in support of the memorial and shouted in response. Defender of the voluntary organization, senior lawyer Kunri Resnick, said the prosecutor’s office was aware that his claim was unsubstantiated and “illegal” and warned that the investigation was “a test of values ​​that determine life in the right way.” Resnick announced that he would appeal against the sentence and, if necessary, appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Meanwhile the director of the memorial, Yan RachinskyHe assured that the verdict would not mean stopping the activities of NGOs as many organizations which are not registered or appear to be legal entities are affiliated with voluntary organizations. “Suspending the functions of the memory is not within the possibilities of the prosecutor’s office”, He insisted.

The Russians who won the Nobel Peace Prize, Michael Gorbachev (1990) and Dmitry Muradov (2021), wrote to the Attorney General’s Office in November to withdraw the case against the monument. Gorbachev and Muradov stressed that its operations since its inception in 1991 were aimed at re-establishing historical justice and preserving the memory of hundreds of thousands of people who had been abused during the Soviet era.

The Attorney General’s Office approached the Supreme Court to have the monument dismantled for violations of the Constitution and for failing to carry out its functions as a “foreign agent.”, Which is a category that has been around since 2016. This classification is reserved for companies that the Russian government considers guilty of operating against the interests of Moscow in order to obtain foreign funds.

Memory In 1989 he began a meticulous work documenting Stalinist crimes and gulak camps, and continued his work on the protection of human rights and political prisoners. The NGO investigated Russia’s abuses during the wars in Chechnya, and more recently, the Kremlin has denied that Wagner’s paramilitary forces are considered Russia’s armed forces abroad.

Valuable system Sakharov received the prize in the European Parliament in 2009 And has been Nominee on many occasions for the Nobel Peace Prize. Among its founders were scientist and anti-Soviet Andrei Sakharov, winner of the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize, the father of the hydrogen bomb and a pioneer in defending human rights in this country.