(Moscow) The Russian Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the deregistration of the country’s oldest human rights body: Memorial. A decision which has aroused the anger of a large part of the population and which comes in the wake of a movement of repression by the Putin regime against defense organizations, independent media and political opponents.
Russia’s Attorney General last month asked the Supreme Court to revoke the legal status of Memorial, an international human rights body that has gained fame for its studies of political repression in the former Soviet Union. The organization is made up of a network of more than 50 small groups established in Russia and abroad.
On Tuesday, the court ruled in favor of the prosecution, which accused Memorial of “creating a false image of the USSR as a terrorist state, of laundering and rehabilitating Nazi criminals”.
A video posted on Twitter by independent media outlet Mediazona shows a large crowd gathered outside the court chanting “Shame! In reaction to the decision.
In 2016, Memorial was declared a “foreign agent,” a pejorative designation aimed at discrediting the organization and accompanied by excessive government surveillance.
In his petition to dissolve the organization, prosecutors alleged that the group repeatedly violated laws requiring it to identify itself as a foreign agent and that it tried to hide that designation.
PHOTO NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA, FRANCE-PRESS AGENCY
Memorial supporters wear masks with the organization’s logo on them.
Memorial and his supporters have maintained that the accusations are political in nature and the organization’s leaders have vowed to continue their work despite the court’s order to dissolve it.
The pressure exerted on the organization aroused the anger of the population. Many personalities have publicly expressed their support in recent weeks. Following the protests in court on Tuesday, several people were reportedly arrested and detained.
In recent months, Russian authorities have stepped up pressure on human rights organizations, news outlets and independent journalists, appointing dozens of new “foreign agents”.
Some have even been declared “undesirable,” a designation that makes any organization illegal in Russia. Others have been accused of having links with “undesirable” groups. Several organizations have been forced to shut down or disband to avoid facing charges.
Last Saturday, the authorities blocked access to the OVD-Info web platform, a major legal aid group specializing in cases of political arrests. The government had urged social media to remove accounts linked to the group following a court ruling that the site contained material “justifying the acts of extremist and terrorist groups.” The organization defended itself by calling the accusations political reprisals.
By means of a press release, OVD-Info on Tuesday condemned the court’s decision to erase Memorial.
“Memorial is an institution of national memory on the era of the Great Terror and Soviet repression. Dissolving such an institution amounts to publicly justifying the Stalinist repressions, we read in the declaration. It is a clear signal to both society and the elites: “Yes, repressions were necessary and useful to the Soviet state in the past and they are still needed today.” ”