Oleg Orlov, co-chairman of the Human Rights Center “Memorial”, was charged with repeated “discrediting” of the Russian army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code), reports the “Memorial” society.
On the morning of March 21, security forces came with a search to the employees of “Memorial”. The searches took place, in particular, at the homes of Oleg Orlov, deputy chairman of the center Nikita Petrov, member of the board of the center Alexandra Polivanova and her mother, as well as the chairman of the board of the Memorial society Yan Rachinsky and deputy chairman of the board of the society Alexander Guryanov.
Later, the security forces came with a search to the Memorial building on Maly Karetny in Moscow. Some of the employees, as specified in the society, the searches ended: they seized equipment and things with the logos of “Memorial” (for example, a calendar and a medical mask). Some were taken away for interrogation to the Investigative Department for the Tverskoy District.
“Involvement in the activities of Memorial is now a threat factor.” The ex-director of the International Memorial Museum spoke about the searches:
On March 6, the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case against the employees of Memorial. As TASS wrote, the basis “was the suspicion that Memorial included in the lists of repressed those people who collaborated with the fascist occupiers during the Great Patriotic War.” Putin himself accused human rights activists of the same thing, weeks before Memorial was officially liquidated in Russia by a decision of the Supreme Court.
The US and the EU condemned the liquidation of the “International Memorial” in Russia. The head of the European Union’s foreign service, Josep Borrell, expressed regret over the decision to liquidate Memorial, which “plays an important role in preserving the memory of political repressions and violations of human rights.”
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