Supreme Court rejects all motions filed by defence of “International Memorial”*

A judge refused to involve representatives of the NGOs affiliated with the “International Memorial”* as co-defendants. The number of activists detained near the courthouse has reached three persons.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that today, the Supreme Court (SC) of Russia has started an open hearing on the lawsuit on the liquidation of the “International Memorial”* filed by the General Prosecutor’s Office. The police detained activists Olga Bakst and Aleksei Belenkin, who took to pickets in front of the courthouse.

Judge Anna Nazarova rejected all the motions filed by the defenders, who requested the court to involve as co-defendants representatives of many NGOs affiliated with the “International Memorial”* and to request additional documents. The lawsuit by the General Prosecutor’s Office was read out, alleging that activities of the International “Memorial”* violated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a board game was mentioned as a violation of the rules for foreign agent marking. A public prosecutor added that the liquidation of the International Memorial”* “would facilitate the observance of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens of Russia.”

200-300 people came to support the “International Memorial”, but most of them were not able to get into the courtroom.

At least three activists were detained. Apart from Olga Bakst and Alexei Belenkin, law enforcers detained a woman who was holding in her hand a poster reading: “You cannot kill the memory of the people! We survive in poverty, lawlessness, and almost no hope”, as it can be seen in the video posted by the “Avtozak LIVE” Telegram channel.

*The organization has been put by the Russian Ministry of Justice on the register of NCOs performing the functions of a foreign agent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 25, 2021 at 02:29 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.