“The real reason for Memorial’s closure is that the prosecutor’s office doesn’t like Memorial’s work rehabilitating the victims of Soviet terror,” Glushkova told CNN.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia requested Memorial International be liquidated in November.
The group was accused of repeatedly breaking the law for failing to mark all its publications with a compulsory “foreign agent” warning. The Justice Ministry had designated the group a foreign agent in 2016, using a law targeting organizations receiving international funding.
Videos posted on social media showed Memorial supporters shouting, “Shame, shame!” in the court’s hallways and at the entrance to the building shortly after the ruling.
Memorial’s representatives argued there were no legal grounds for the group’s closure, and critics say the Russian government targeted Memorial for political reasons.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov was one of the group’s original founders and the first honorary chairman of the Memorial Society.
Memorial International’s sister organization, the Memorial Human Rights Center, is facing a similar challenge. Prosecutors in Moscow charged the group with justifying terrorism and extremism in its publications. A case on its closure is before the Moscow City Court and its next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
The Memorial Human Rights Center is a separate legal entity that focuses on oppression in modern Russia. It was labeled a foreign agent in 2014, according to Human Rights Watch.
The Supreme Court’s decision was not unexpected.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a speech earlier this month, accused Memorial of supporting groups that are blacklisted as “as…
Source : cnn
