Quick first take on the newest attack on @MemorialMoscow.
1. The letter today from the Russian Supreme Court about a hearing on 25 Nov. about the liquidation of Memorial implies that the case has been in the making for quite sole time. /2
1. The letter today from the Russian Supreme Court about a hearing on 25 Nov. about the liquidation of Memorial implies that the case has been in the making for quite sole time. /2
2. That sheds new light on the physical attack on Memorial's office four weeks ago. Then a group of 30 young men stormed the scene of a film screening, followed by a 6 hour long interrogation of Memorial and its guest by the police and different security agencies. /3
Since then a special police unit for fighting economic crime is investigating Memorial on "financial irregularities". Memorial cooperates with this police unit and already provided a big number of documents. /4
3. Looking at this two events together it's very hard to believe in a coincidence. Rather they are two links of one chain. /5
4. The pretext for liquidating Memorial are "violations" of the law on "foreign agents" or, more precise, the claim that Memorial did not comply to the main demand of the law; to name oneself "foreign agent" on every public appearance. /6
5. In fact, the prosecutors fined Memorial several times for not complying with this regulation and court upheld this fines. Memorial on the other hand, declared that it believes the law unconstitutional and filed a complaint with the ECMR, but obeyed to the demands of .../7
...the courts, paid the fines and further did, what the prosecutors demanded. /8
6. Having all this in mind it looks very much like the decision has been made in the Kremlin to really get rid of Memorial this time. It is very likely that the organisation will be liquidated by the Supreme Court. /9
At the same time Memorial staff faces still criminal prosecution on alleged economic crimes. This puts them under real risk of been send to prison./10
7. What would a liquidation of Memorial International mean for the Memorial network as a whole? Memorial International is an umbrella organisation for this network. All other Memorial organisations are members of this umbrella. /11
Most of them are at the same time independent legal entities. So, they will exist further, unless the prosecutor won't ask the Supreme Court to liquidate them, too. Every organisation would be a separate case. So, Memorial Perm, St.Pete, Ryazan or the Human Rights Center.../12
...will survive Memorial International (at least for the time being)./13
8. But! But Memorial International in the owner of the central office facilities in Moscow, together with the unique archive, library and museum on political repression during Soviet times. It plays a huge, may be even crucial role in coordinating the network. /14
Without Memorial International many employees of Memorial will be laid off. Many programmes and project will be terminated. The Human Rights Center, the Center for Historical Research and others will loose their offices. /15
May be this will not be a deadly blast, but it will hurt a lot, make the work much more difficult. And not only for Memorial, but for many other NGOs as well, which are profiting from Memorials recent role of a locomotive of Russian Civil Society. /end
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
