December 29, 2021–A Russian court closed a human rights organization called International Memorial for failing to mark a number of its social media posts as coming from a “foreign agent,” the BBC reported on Tuesday.
On its website, International Memorial is a Moscow-based nonprofit organization “studying political repressions in the USSR and in present-day Russia.”
According to reporting by the BBC, the court prosecutor called the organization a “public threat,” saying it receives money from the West and focuses on crimes by the Soviet Union. Separately, a Moscow court closed its affiliate Memorial on Wednesday, the Financial Times reported.
Representatives from many Western governments condemned the action. For example, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the group was one of Russia’s most respected human rights organizations.
Also, Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Anniken Huitfeldt said she was “deeply disturbed” by the Russian Supreme Court’s decision. “We urge Russian authorities to discontinue its decimation of Russian civil society and live up to its international human rights commitments,” she said.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, the European Parliament adopted three resolutions on the respective human rights situations in Russia, Cuba, and Serbia. The resolution urged Russia “to stop its ongoing crackdown on civil society, human rights defenders, and independent media.”
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