Russia's Attorney General's office asked to liquidate Memorial

2021-11-12T17:43:10.163Z

The Attorney General's Office has asked the Russian Supreme Court to liquidate the Memorial Human Rights Center for systematic violations of the Foreign Agents Act (failure to mark the organization's materials as a foreign agent). The Memorial Human Rights Center has been registered in the register of foreign agents in Russia since 2014. Also included are the interregional public organization Memorial Information and Education Center (Ekaterinburg), the Memorial Research and Information Center and the Memorial International Historical and Educational Society. Memorial was founded in 1992 in Moscow on the basis of the Moscow public initiative group, Memorial, established in 1987 at the initiative of academician Andrei Sakharov,giving rise to a number of regional organizations and groups. In 1989, they all joined in the All-Union Historical and Educational Society "Memorial" (registered in 1990). Academician Andrei Sakharov was one of the organizers and the first honorary president of Memorial. The main task of the organization was initially the study of political repression in the USSR. Now "Memorial" is a community of dozens of organizations in Russia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Italy, the Czech Republic, Belgium, France, Ukraine, which conduct research, human rights advocacy and education. The first hearing of Memorial's liquidation process is set for November 25. The Secretary General of the Council ofEurope Marija Pejčinović Burić in a statement expressed concern about the plans to liquidate Memorial. Memorial-Italia is based in Milan and is part of the Memorial association created in Moscow in the 1980s. It deals with the preservation of the memory of human rights violations and the defense of rights today. The focus is particularly on the history of the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia. The statute of Memorial-Italia establishes that the association works to enrich public reflection on the themes of violence, totalitarianism and illiberal regimes. Memorial-Italia organizes conferences, exhibitions, seminars and lectures; collects documentation and memories; favors the publication of research on history and literature. Being part of the international association,according to the Russian Prosecutor's Office, Memorial-Italia would also be subject to liquidation if there were a sentence by the Russian Supreme Court.