A court in Moscow has granted a request to shut down another prominent human rights organisation amid a sweeping crackdown on Russian rights groups, independent media and opposition supporters.
The Moscow City Court's decision to shut down the Memorial Human Rights Centre came a day after Russia's Supreme Court revoked the legal status of its sister organisation Memorial, a human rights group that drew international acclaim for its studies of political repression in the Soviet Union.
Russian authorities previously declared both organisations as "foreign agents" - a designation that brings additional government scrutiny and carries strong pejorative connotations.
Prosecutors petitioned to shut down the groups last month, arguing they had repeatedly violated regulations obliging them to identify themselves as foreign agents in all content they produce.
"We've been saying from the start that the 'foreign agents' law - and I'm doing the air quotations again - is not lawful, and it's not to be amended but only abolished because it was designed with the aim of strangling civil society. Today, we received another proof of that," Alexander Cherkasov, board chairman of the Memorial Human Rights Centre, said.
The rulings to close them drew widespread public outrage, with crowds of supporters showing up at courthouses on Tuesday and Wednesday despite freezing weather.
Both Memorial organisations promised to appeal against the rulings revoking their legal status.
In a statement on Tuesday, Memorial vowed to "find legitimate ways to continue our work".
Several top US and European officials condemned Tuesday's decision to shut down Memorial as an attack on Russia's civil society.
Amnesty International called Wednesday's ruling to close the Memorial Human Rights Centre "yet another blow to Russia's civil society movement after years of relentless attacks".
Russian authorities have in recent months mounted pressure on rights groups, media outlets and individual journalists, naming dozens as foreign agents.
Some were declared "undesirable" - a label that outlaws organisations in Russia - or were accused of links to "undesirable" groups, and several were forced to shut down or disband themselves to prevent further prosecution.
On Saturday, the authorities blocked the website of OVD-Info - a prominent legal aid group that focuses on political arrests - and urged social media platforms to take down its accounts after a court ruled that the website contained materials that "justify actions of extremist and terrorist groups".
The group rejected the charges as politically driven.
Moscow city authorities served another prominent human rights group with an eviction notice on Tuesday.
The Civic Assistance Committee, which assists refugees and migrants in Russia, said officials handed the organisation a document voiding the agreement allowing the use of the space without compensation and ordered it to leave within a month.
"The Civic Assistance will be fighting (this)," the organisation's chair Svetlana Gannushkina said.
A number of Russian non-governmental organisations switched to operating as informal entities in recent years to avoid being affected by restrictive laws.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel