Lawyers give six reasons for cancelling liquidation of "International Memorial"*

The defence of the "International Memorial"* has filed an appeal against the decision to liquidate the organization. They present six arguments in favour of overturning the decision.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 28, 2021, the Supreme Court (SC) of Russia decided to liquidate the "International Memorial"* and its regional branches; and on the following day the Moscow City Court (MCC) ruled to liquidate the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"*.

On January 28, the defence of the historical and educational society "International Memorial"* appealed against the SC's liquidation decision, the "Kommersant" writes today. The complaint was sent to the SC's panel of judges.

In their complaint, the lawyers have indicated six reasons why, in their opinion, the liquidation decision should be cancelled. In particular, the defence has noted that "the absence of a 'foreign agent' marking does not constitute a repeated gross violation of the law"; the "liquidation is contrary to Russia's international obligations" and "is a disproportionate response", and also that "the territorial scope of the 'International Memorial'* corresponds to the declared one", that is, the organization has branches abroad, is an international organization and cannot be liquidated on the basis of the law on Russian non-commercial organizations (NCOs).

The defence has already put forward the above arguments at the earlier court sessions. Two more claims to the SC have been added. According to the defence, The SC "went beyond the scope of the claims lodged by the administrative claimant," – the advocates assert, since the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) demanded the liquidation of the organization only on the basis of the absence of the "foreign agent" marking, while the SC had already independently based the liquidation decision on the indication that the "Memorial"* has no subdivisions abroad. At the same time, the SC failed to involve the heads of the Russian and foreign branches of the organization in its sessions, that is, "it made a decision on the rights and obligations of the persons not figuring in the administrative case."

*The organization is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice into the register of non-commercial organizations (NCOs) performing the functions of a foreign agent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 31, 2022 at 03:38 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.