On Thursday, November 25, the Supreme Court of Russia began to consider the lawsuit of the Prosecutor General’s Office on the liquidation of International Memorial. The plaintiff believes that for the repeated absence of the marking of a “foreign agent” on the materials of the historical and educational society, it should be closed.
True, on the first day of the trial, the representatives of the prosecutor’s office could not convincingly substantiate the arguments indicated in their claim. In response to many questions from the defense, they were simply silent. Dozens of people came to support the human rights defenders. Report DW.
Liquidation of NPOs for lack of marking “foreign agent”
Judge Alla Nazarova is leading the trial in the case of the liquidation of International Memorial. She already has experience in closing human rights organizations. In 2019, Nazarova satisfied the lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Justice to liquidate the For Human Rights movement, which was headed by Lev Ponomarev. The lawsuit was also based on several fines for the lack of marking of a “foreign agent” in the materials circulated on the resources of the movement.
At the same time, in the current process, the defendant is represented by experienced and influential lawyers. For example, one of the defenders of the International Memorial is a well-known lawyer, honored lawyer of the Russian Federation, Henry Reznik. Together with him, the interests of NGOs are represented by Maria Eismont, who previously defended oppositionists Konstantin Kotov and Yulia Galyamina in court.
Igor Krasnov
As stated in the lawsuit filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office, which the judge read out, “the numerous materials systematically published by Memorial are not accompanied by an indication that they were published by an NGO, a foreign agent. Until 2021, Memorial was punished several times with fines for not tagging its materials with the label “foreign agent”. Thus, the NPO “demonstrates persistent disregard for the law and impedes control,” which “grossly violates the rights of citizens,” the plaintiff said.
Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, who filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court, considered that several administrative fines were enough to ask for the closure of Memorial. At the same time Krasnov refers to the law “On public associations”, which allows for the elimination of those for “gross violations” of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and federal laws.
Silence of the prosecutor
Representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office without hesitation read from a piece of paper accusations against the oldest Russian NGO. Due to the lack of the “foreign agent” label on the materials of NGOs, human rights defenders were accused of violating the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the law on the protection of children from harmful information and even the Conventions on the Protection of Human and Child Rights, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Memorial’s defense prepared a lot of exculpatory materials for the start of the trial
As soon as representatives of “Memorial” began to clarify some points of the statement of claim, the prosecutors hesitated. “Your claim says that Memorial violated articles of the Convention on Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Can the organization in principle (based on these documents. – Ed.) violate human rights? “- Maria Eismont asked. Prosecutor Victoria Maslova is silent in response and leafs through the papers in front of her. A minute later, the judge saves her:” Difficult to answer? Let’s have the next question. ”Eismont still insists on an answer, and the prosecutor says:“ No. ”Only the state can violate human rights, Maslova admits.
Continuing the questions, Eismont recalls that the law “On the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development” contains a specific list of such information (for example, the so-called “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations”). “What specific information that negatively affects the development of children are you going to protect them from when liquidating Memorial?” – the lawyer is trying to fill in the information missing in the claim.
Hundreds of people came to the building of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to support Memorial
After a minute of silence, the prosecutor tries to answer. “We believe that from all the information … This is individual in each specific case …” – said Maslova and again fell silent. “Is it normal that the plaintiff is silent?” – Grigory Vaypan, representative of the interests of Memorial, asked the judge. The judge again comes to the rescue: “Well, no (the prosecutor. – Ed.) the text of the law before our eyes. Let’s move on. “
Are there enough grounds to liquidate Memorial?
Judge Alla Nazarova refused to grant the defense’s petition to demand materials from administrative cases on the absence of marking in Memorial’s materials. At the same time, Maria Eismont stated that these materials testify to the good faith of the organization: all violations, according to her, were eliminated by NGOs on time. And this contradicts the position of the Prosecutor General’s Office on “sustainable disregard for the law.”
Grigory Vaypan added that the violations incriminated to Memorial cannot be considered sufficient for liquidation. He referred to the decision of the plenum of the Supreme Court, which in 2016 determined sufficient grounds for the liquidation of a public association. These include, for example, the creation of a real threat of harm to life or “denial of fundamental democratic principles, rights or freedoms.” None of this relates to Memorial, Vaipan is sure.
Henry Reznik hopes to win
Five and a half hours after the start of the trial, Alla Nazarova announced that a break was announced in the consideration of the case until December 14. Yelena Zhemkova, Executive Director of International Memorial, considered this a good sign.
Henry Resnick
“This means that the decision has not been made, and we will continue to fight,” Zhemkova emphasized at the end of the hearings. …
Henry Reznik came out of the courthouse hoping for the best. “The law (on NCO-foreign agents. – Ed.) – shit, – Reznik told reporters. – Its application is disgusting, but in the Romano-Germanic legal system we are forced to apply the law, regardless of its perfection. I hope that in this process we will win. “
See also:
.