USA, EU and three other countries condemn Russia for liquidating "Memorials"*

Western countries express their regret about the decision of the Russian Supreme Court (SC) to ban the International Historical and Educational Society "Memorial", as well as of the ruling of the Moscow City Court (MCC) to liquidate the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"*. This attempt to shut down the human rights defenders, who used to expose crimes, including those committed in Northern Caucasus, continues the process of aggravating repressions in Russia, the EU, the USA, Australia, Canada and the UK have stated.

The violations of the law on foreign agents were used as a pretext for the claims against the "International Memorial"*. The prosecutor has accused the Society of supporting protests and criticizing the Russian judicial system.

The assertion of Russian authorities that the work of the HRC "Memorial"* was justifying extremism and terrorism" cannot be accepted, the European External Action Service has stated.

"For more than 30 years, the 'Memorial' has played a unique role in documenting historical crimes and restoring for posterity the memory of tens of millions of victims of political repressions," the statement says.

Let us remind you that the decision of the Russan SC and the MCC was condemned by David Sassoli, the head of the European Parliament, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), and by Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.

* The edition has been included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the list of the media performing the functions of a foreign agent.