Persecution of "Memorial" is a blow on civil society

The enforcement practice of the law on foreign agents has created unprecedented pressure on human rights organizations, the participants in a press conference in Moscow have stated. The liquidation of the "Memorial" will inflict great damage to human rights activities in Northern Caucasus and to the defence of Russian citizens' rights at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), human rights defenders believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 8, the Moscow Prosecutor's Office filed a lawsuit demanding to liquidate the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", claiming that the Centre was justifying extremism and terrorism.

Elena Zhemkova, the Executive Director of the "International Memorial", has recalled that the "International Memorial" has been operating for 33 years, and over the years has collected more than 3.5 million names of repressed Soviet citizens, and the HRC "Memorial" has defended "thousands of people."

The overwhelming majority of imputed violations relate to the fact that the materials of the "Memorial" were not duly marked, Tatiana Glushkova, a lawyer for the programme named "Defence of Human Rights Through the Use of International Mechanisms", has explained.

The persecution of the "Memorial" is "a blow to all the human rights defenders and the civil society in Russia," Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, has noted. According to her version, the "Memorial" works not in the interests of foreign states, but in the interests of Russian citizens by defending their rights.

The HRC "Memorial" has no intent to stop defending the rights of residents of Northern Caucasus at the ECtHR, Tatiana Glushkova has added.

The liquidation of the HRC "Memorial", one of the few sources of information about the situation in Chechnya, will play into the hands of the republic's authorities, Oleg Orlov, a board member of the HRC "Memorial", believes. "I think Ramzan Kadyrov is extremely glad with the raised liquidation issue," he has stated.