Russian human rights organization Memorial disbanded

Created: 12/28/2021Updated: 12/28/2021, 3:07 PM

"Hands off Memorial, Freedom for Political Prisoners": A demonstrator in front of the Supreme Court in Moscow.

© Pavel Golovkin / AP / dpa

The internationally known Russian human rights organization Memorial stands up for the politically persecuted.

The power apparatus in Moscow has been bothered by this for a long time - and is now dissolving it.

Moscow - Despite international criticism, Russia's highest court has dissolved the internationally renowned human rights organization Memorial.

Judge Alla Nasarova's decision in Moscow is by far the worst blow to the Russian human rights movement.

Memorial has made a name for itself internationally for more than 30 years by coming to terms with the communist tyranny in the Soviet Union.

The judgment, which came as no surprise after the public criticism of Memorial by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, caused widespread horror - also in Germany.

Jan Ratschinski from the memorial management announced that he would also proceed against the decision before the European Court of Human Rights.

The prominent defense attorney Henri Resnik, who is also a member of the Russian President's Human Rights Council, spoke of an “illegal” judgment.

"But that is a political decision," said Resnik.

The company, which was founded in the late 1980s, complained at the beginning of the proceedings that the aim was to “destroy an organization that deals with the history of political repression and the protection of human rights”.

Human rights activists have long complained about increasing authoritarian tendencies and the persecution of dissenters in Russia.

Judge leaves decision unfounded

More than 100 supporters gathered in front of the court in Moscow, as pictures from Memorial on Twitter showed.

There were also some arrests.

Diplomats from 15 countries followed the process, including Germany, the court said, according to the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti.

The judge did not give reasons for her decision - she followed the prosecutor's request.

In court, their representative Alexei Jafjarov said that Memorial with his work portrayed the Soviet Union, which was dissolved 30 years ago, as a "terrorist state" and spread lies about the country. Nazi criminals are even being rehabilitated, he claimed. Putin made a similar statement three weeks ago. He said that Memorial was committed to the ideals of humanism, but in fact included people who were involved in murders on the list of victims of political repression in Soviet times.

To the annoyance of the Russian leadership, the internationally respected organization also campaigns for political prisoners in Russia - there are 349 on the list.

In addition, Memorial repeatedly uncovered crimes against the humanity of the Soviet secret service.

Putin himself is a former KGB officer who also headed the FSB's domestic intelligence service after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Memorial already fined several times

Memorial organization has been fined several times for failing to refer to itself as a "foreign agent".

A controversial law stipulates that recipients of payments from abroad can be referred to as "agents".

Many human rights defenders are affected, but also journalists.

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The set of rules has been criticized internationally as a political instrument for arbitrary decisions against those who think differently.

It is also lamented that those who stand up for human rights are stigmatized as spies.

Memorial has long called for the law to be repealed.

The organization said it would continue its work pending a final judgment.

Clear criticism of the court decision also came from Germany.

This would be a heavy blow for Russian society and for all of Europe, according to a joint statement by several organizations, including the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Amnesty International, the German PEN Center, the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation.

"Like no other organization, Memorial stands for an open, philanthropic, democratic Russia."

"Politically motivated judgment"

The FDP and the Greens in the German Bundestag spoke of a “politically motivated judgment”.

"It is also a black day for victims of violence, torture and repression," said Renata Alt from the Liberals.

"Now it is important to proactively offer the Memorial staff asylum in Germany."

The team of the imprisoned Kremlin opponent Alexej Navalny recalled Memorial's goals of preserving the memory of the Stalinist repression - “so that this nightmare never happens again in our country.

It is obvious that this is now not in line with the goals of the Russian state. "

It was only on Monday that a Russian court increased the sentence for human rights activist Yuri Dmitrijew to 15 years in a prison camp in an internationally criticized case.

The 65-year-old historian, who also worked for Memorial, had made crimes under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin public.

Many members of the opposition, including Navalny's supporters, have been classified as extremists by the judiciary in Russia.

By keeping a list of political prisoners, Memorial faces the charge of justifying “involvement in terrorist and extremist organizations”.

But that is wrong - people who are persecuted for political reasons are recorded, said the memorial lawyer Tatiana Gluschkowa recently.

dpa