On Thursday, November 18, Nobel Prize winners, former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev and Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov, spoke out in support of the Memorial society, which the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office is seeking to liquidate.
“The long-term activities of Memorial have always been aimed at restoring historical justice, preserving the memory of hundreds of thousands of those killed and injured during the years of repression, and preventing this from happening now and in the future,” the Interfax news agency quotes the joint appeal of Gorbachev and Muratov.
From the point of view of the authors of the document, the continuation of the work of “Memorial” meets the interests of society and the Russian state. “The demand to close Memorial has caused anxiety and concern in the country, which we share,” Mikhail Gorbachev and Dmitry Muratov point out.
They urge the Attorney General’s Office to withdraw the claim from the court and settle the claims out of court. “We urge the court to postpone the date of the hearing to consider the claim, so as to enable through joint efforts to remove this painful problem for the country,” the appeal says.
Who else supported Memorial
Earlier, Memorial was supported by, among other things, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Mary Lawlor and Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Dunja Mijatovic.
On November 11, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia sent an administrative claim to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to liquidate International Memorial. Earlier, on November 8, the Moscow prosecutor’s office sent an application to the Moscow City Court to liquidate the Memorial human rights center for “justifying extremism and terrorism.” The Russian authorities have added Memorial to the list of NGOs performing the functions of “foreign agents”.
HRC “Memorial” on the law on “foreign agents”
Memorial representatives reject the claims brought against them. “Letters, numbers, paragraphs and dates confirm that the claims against us are insignificant. There is only the will of the state, which has been expressed for ten years in the so-called law on foreign agents,” says the message of the human rights center (HRC) Memorial on Twitter. , published on November 18 following a press conference on the demands of the Russian authorities to close Memorial.
The consideration in court of the appeal of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation on the liquidation of the “Memorial” society is scheduled for November 25.
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