The Platform of European Memory and Conscience condemns Russian court verdict on Memorial

Press release
Prague, 12 March 2015. The Platform of European Memory and Conscience condemns yesterday’s court verdict placing the Human Rights Center of Memorial on the list of so- called foreign agents. The aim of the regime is clearly to hinder the work of the well-known and highly respected human rights organisation in Russia.

For the past 25 years, the Human Rights Centre of Memorial has been monitoring and exposing cases of serious violations of human rights in Russia. Based on yesterday’s ruling, the organisation is to join the list of about 40 respectable non-governmental organisations which are being subjected to harassment by authorities. “This is another example of the unpredictable and retrospective application of the foreign agents law in Russia”, says Mr Kirill Koroteev, lawyer of Memorial’s Human Rights Centre. “There can be no trust in the Russian administrative and judicial systems”.

“Targeting the prestigious human rights organisation comes hand in hand with the deterioration of democracy in Russia and the rise of authoritarian rule. While it is persecuting memory and human rights organisations under ridiculous pretexts at home, the Russian regime is in fact acting as a “foreign agent” in many countries abroad”, warns Platform President Göran Lindblad.

For more information, please contact:

Göran Lindblad, President president@memoryandconscience.eu+46-706710366

Neela Winkelmann, Managing Director director@memoryandconscience.eu+420-222 561 053

The Platform of European Memory and Conscience brings together 48 public and private institutions and organisations from 13 EU Member States, Ukraine, Moldova, Iceland, Canada and the USA working in the field of coming to terms with the legacy of totalitarianism on European soil. We represent about 200,000 Europeans and over 1,100,000 North American citizens with European roots.