{"id":9444,"date":"2021-11-17T13:26:39","date_gmt":"2021-11-17T13:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/?p=9444"},"modified":"2021-11-17T13:31:35","modified_gmt":"2021-11-17T13:31:35","slug":"rasijskiya-ulady-hochucz-zakrycz-pravaabaronchy-czentr-memaryyal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2021\/11\/17\/rasijskiya-ulady-hochucz-zakrycz-pravaabaronchy-czentr-memaryyal.html","title":{"rendered":"Move to shut down Memorial condemned"},"content":{"rendered":"

PEN International, PEN Moscow and St Petersburg PEN condemn the Russian authorities\u2019 move to shut down Memorial International Society and its sister organisation Memorial Human Rights Centre, which are amongst the oldest and most prominent rights organisations in Russia. PEN urges the authorities to immediately drop the lawsuits against Memorial, and to end their relentless crackdown on freedom of expression and association, including by repealing the \u2018Foreign Agents\u2019 law.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On 11 November, Memorial International Society <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> it had been notified by the Supreme Court that prosecutors had demanded its liquidation over repeated violations of the \u2018Foreign Agents\u2019 law \u2013 particularly the failure to mark their \u2018foreign agent\u2019 status on all their publications. The case will be heard on 25 November. On 12 November, Memorial Human Rights Centre was informed by the Moscow City Court that the Moscow City Prosecutor\u2019s Office had filed a similar lawsuit against them. A date for the court hearing has yet to be set.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u2018The Russian authorities have been labelling dissenting voices as foreign agents for years. Their attempt to shut down Memorial International Society and Memorial Human Rights Centre, two of the most respected rights organisations in the country, is an assault on independent civil society. Today, we stand with Memorial and its fearless activists. We urge the authorities to immediately drop the lawsuits and to repeal laws stifling free expression and association, including the \u2018Foreign Agents\u2019 law\u2019,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

said Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International\u2019s Writers in Prison Committee.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u2018Shutting down Memorial would make advocating for human rights in Russia even more challenging, but for Russian society as a whole and millions of relatives of the victims of Stalin\u2019s Great Terror, it would also amount to justifying the past, entrenching today\u2019s repression and the eradication of memory\u2019<\/span><\/i>, <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

said Nadezda Azhgikhina, Executive Director of PEN Moscow.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u2018Memorial\u2019s work and fate are crucial for Russia and beyond. Human rights, dignity and history belong to us all. Our joint memory should remain alive, and tragedies of the past never repeated. We call for international solidarity and urge the Russian authorities to preserve Memorial\u2019s vital mission\u2019<\/span><\/i>, <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

added Elena Chizhova, Board Member of St Petersburg PEN.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PEN International, PEN Moscow and St Petersburg PEN condemn the Russian authorities\u2019 move to shut down Memorial International Society and its sister organisation Memorial Human Rights Centre, which are amongst the oldest and most prominent rights organisations in Russia. PEN urges the authorities to immediately drop the lawsuits against Memorial, and to end their relentless<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":9445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4201,4093],"tags":[4283],"class_list":["post-9444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-solidarity","category-creative-projects","tag-mymemoral"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9444"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9452,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9444\/revisions\/9452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}