The verdict was met with shouts of “Shame!”
The Moscow City Court liquidated the Memorial Human Rights Center, which the Russian authorities recognized as a foreign agent. The claim of the metropolitan Prosecutor’s office was satisfied. It was hard to expect anything else after the day before the Supreme Court granted a similar lawsuit by the Prosecutor General’s Office on the liquidation of another foreign agent – the International “Memorial”. Both decisions will be appealed.
Photo: moscow-live.ru
These two lawsuits filed in early November with an interval of one day against the oldest Russian human rights organizations, the Moscow City Court and the Supreme Court began considering a month ago. But then they slowed down, moving the substantive analysis to “after December 9,” when the traditional annual meeting of President Putin with members of his Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights was scheduled – apparently in order not to aggravate the already tense background for communication and not to kill hope ahead of time.
The topic of “Memorials” was also discussed at this meeting, but the president did not say anything specific. And after the Armed Forces liquidated the International Memorial on December 28, it was the turn of the Human Rights Center of the same name.
Shouts of “Shame!” greeted the verdict of Judge Mikhail Kazakov on December 29, people gathered on the street outside the Moscow City Court building. Due to covid restrictions, only representatives of the parties were allowed into the meeting room.
On the merits, the case began to be considered on December 23, at the same time, after many hours of disputes, the arguments of the plaintiffs and defenders of the organization entered into the register of “foreign agents” several years ago became known. The Prosecutor’s office believes that Memorial “systematically concealed information about the performance of the function of a foreign agent,” that is, it did not label or label its products properly.
“Due to the fact that you do not indicate that you are a foreign agent, a citizen cannot approach this article critically. This can lead to various consequences, it can cause a depressive state among citizens,” the prosecutor said at the time. It followed from his words that if the material about the victims of Stalin’s repressions, for example, does not indicate that its author is an “agent”, a Russian can believe what he wrote, and, God forbid, will be upset. But if he reads that the work of an “agent” is in front of him, there will be no trust in the content of the material …
Another reason for liquidation, according to the prosecutor’s office, is “justification of terrorism and extremism.” The facts proving this are the inclusion in the list of Russian political prisoners maintained by the Human Rights Center of participants of Islamist organizations recognized as terrorist in Russia, as well as “Jehovah’s Witnesses” (recognized as extremist and banned in Russia) and “Artillery Preparation” (recognized as extremist and banned in Russia). There are even persons convicted of espionage on these lists, the prosecutor noted. According to him, the compilation of such lists in itself is aimed at “forming a negative perception of the judicial system of the Russian Federation.”
And on December 29, speaking in the debate, the prosecutor also said that Memorial conducts its financial activities “non-transparently”, conceals receipt of foreign funding, supports illegal protest actions and the FBK recognized as extremist in Russia, and in general “steadily neglects the laws, grossly violates the rights of citizens.”
Interestingly, the prosecutor’s office did not find any real consequences of the above-mentioned actions of Memorial, but the fact of their commission, in her opinion, creates “a threat of harm to public order and security.”
Memorial was defended by several lawyers and lawyers. The chairman of the Council of the Human Rights Center, Alexander Cherkasov, said that the true reason for the claim, as it became clear during the proceedings– was not the absence of markings on the center’s materials, “this is just an excuse, an excuse.” The main goal, according to him, is “to deprive citizens of access to information.” ProhibitionThe organization, which has been operating in Russia since 1989, “will confirm that political persecution is one of the systemic factors” of Russian politics. By closing human rights organizations, the state, according to Cherkasov, is trying to “break the red flashing light that signals that something is wrong, and not solve the problem itself.”
Lawyer Grigory Vaipan recalled Soviet dissidents who were also persecuted for lists of political prisoners and criticism of Soviet courts, and Russia later recognized this as “political repression.” Memorial, when compiling its lists of political prisoners, always specifically stipulated that the inclusion of certain surnames in them does not mean that the center agrees with their position and approves their activities – it only means that, according to human rights activists, people were convicted for political reasons, the defenders of the Center said.
A representative of the Ministry of Justice (this agency maintains a register of NGOs-foreign agents, monitors their compliance with legal requirements, and supported the prosecutor’s office’s claim) he refused to participate in the debate.
After the meeting, which lasted about three hours, lawyer Mikhail Biryukov told reporters that the court’s decision would be appealed: according to him, the defense did not hear what rights and legitimate interests of citizens were violated by the human rights center. Violations of the labeling rules, which the NGO corrected after their discovery, are disproportionate to the decision to liquidate, Mr. Biryukov believes. And a member of the Council of the human rights center, Yan Rachinsky, promised to sue up to the ECHR, where Memorial’s complaint against the Russian law on foreign agents is awaiting consideration.
Has been waiting since 2012, by the way.