Press conference “Memorial vs liquidation”

At the end of December, the Supreme Court and the Moscow City Court ruled to liquidate the International Memorial and the Memorial Human Rights Center. Both organizations have appealed these decisions. The court hearings on appeal are still pending

The ECHR demands to suspend the liquidation of both Memorials: the execution of liquidation decisions should be postponed until the ECHR decides on a complaint against the “foreign agents” law.

At the press conference, we will present the arguments of the appeals, talk about Russia's obligations to comply with the ECHR decisions, and also dismiss the accusations against the International Memorial of rehabilitation of Nazism.

The liquidation of the Memorials is illegal; the allowance of appeal and execution of the decision of the European Court is an opportunity for Russia to remain in the legal framework.

The press conference will take place on February 25 at 11:00 AM both offline, at the Memorial office (Karetny Ryad str., build. 5/10), and via Zoom, in Russian, with simultaneous translation into English. It will be broadcast on social networks (Facebook, YouTube, and VK) in Russian and English.

Participants (in alphabetical order):

Mikhail Biryukov, lawyer,

Alexander Cherkasov, Chair of the Board of the Memorial Human Rights Center,

Piotr Cywiński, director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum (online),

Tatyana Glushkova, Member of the Board of the Memorial Human Rights Center, Senior Lawyer of the program “Protection of Human Rights via International Mechanisms”,

Robert Latypov, Chair of the Perm regional branch of the Memorial International Society (online),

Jonathan Littell, writer (online),

Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, laureate of 2021 Nobel Peace Prize,

Ilya Novikov, lawyer,

Nikita Petrov, security services historian, member of the Board of the International Memorial (online),

Elena Zhemkova, Executive Director of the International Memorial.

Moderator: Tanya Lokshina, Associate Director for Europe and Central Asia, Human Rights Watch.

Media accreditation is required (requests can be submitted until 12:00 PM, February 24).

We are following the recommended anti-COVID measures, thus the number of offline journalists will be limited. Face mask required.

Attachments: Full texts of the decisions of the Supreme Court and the Moscow City Court, the appeals of the International Memorial and the Memorial Human Rights Center