This same Friday, hours before the court’s decision, it was announced that Memorial would receive the Nobel Peace Prize in conjunction with the Belarusian activist Ales Beliatski and the Center for Civil Liberties, a Ukrainian NGO
A Moscow court on Friday ordered the search and seizure of the headquarters of Memorial, a Russian non-governmental organization dedicated to the defense of human rights, after the award of a Nobel Peace Prize to the association was announced for its work in the context of the war between Ukraine and Russia.
The Tverskoy court informed the Interfax news agency that, following a trial against the NGO, the Memorial’s offices in Russia “have now become state property.”
Throughout the trial, Russian prosecutors accused Memorial of being involved in the “rehabilitation of Nazi criminals,” as well as discrediting the country’s authorities and creating a “false image” of the Soviet Union.
The NGO had already been banned in Russia since December 2021, three months before Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. For decades they have dedicated themselves to the fight against political repression in both Russia and the Soviet Union.
*Also read: Putin proclaims annexation of four Ukrainian provinces and calls on kyiv to negotiate
Nobel Peace Prize Winners
This same Friday, hours before the court’s decision, it was announced that Memorial would receive the Nobel Peace Prize in conjunction with the Belarusian activist Ales Beliatski and the Center for Civil Liberties, a Ukrainian NGO.
The winners were honored for “an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human rights abuses and abuse of power” in their respective countries.
“For many years they have promoted the right to criticize power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.
The Ukrainian group, Center for Civil Liberties, has “engaged in efforts to identify and document Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population,” the committee said.
“In collaboration with international partners, the center is playing a pioneering role with a view to holding the guilty to account for their crimes.”
Committee chair Reiss-Andersen stressed that the award is not intended to send a message to Putin, or anyone else, but added that he represents “an authoritarian government that is cracking down on human rights activists.”
*With information from CNN Y World
Post Views:
387
