NEWS

Russia: Justice Ministry seeks to disband Kremlin-critical human rights group
The ministry has filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court to close the International Memorial Society, Jennifer Janiak reports
16 Oct 14

(Image: http://www.memo.ru/eng/)

Russia’s All-Russian Memorial Society faces closure after the Justice Ministry filed a suit with the country’s Supreme Court late last month.

The Justice Ministry filed its suit on 26 September, though Russian news outlets only publicised the case last week.

Recently, Memorial, a long-time critic of the Kremlin, has tried to gain more information on political prisons and has sought justice for victims of political persecution.

Russian prosecutors first sued for Memorial to register as a “foreign agent” under a law that targets groups that receive grants from abroad. However, the court struck down this request.

The Supreme Court will hold another hearing on 13 November, according to Radio Free Europe.

Updated 31 October. An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that the International Memorial Society, an Index on Censorship award winner, was the subject of the Kremlin action.

This article was posted on 16 October 2014 and updated on 31 October 2014 at indexoncensorship.org