MOSCOW -- The Moscow City Court started hearings on a prosecutor's request to shut down one of Russia's oldest rights watchdogs, the Memorial Human Rights Center.
Some 25 journalists were allowed to follow the December 23 hearing from a special room outside the courtroom.
Memorial is being represented at the hearing. by lawyers Mikhail Biryukov, Ilya Novikov, Maria Eismont, Grigory Vaipan, Anastasia Garina, Tatyana Glushkova, Tamilla Imanova, Natalya Morozova, and Natalya Sekretaryova.
Last month, Moscow prosecutors asked the court to shut down the center, while the Prosecutor-General’s Office around the same time asked the Supreme Court to liquidate the umbrella organization, Memorial International, under which the Memorial Human Rights Center and several other activist groups operate.
Prosecutors have explained their moves by saying the two organizations have "repeatedly violated" Russia's controversial law on "foreign agents," which is increasingly being used by officials to shutter civil society and stifle independent media in the country.
A prosecutor at the December 23 hearing reiterated the accusations, saying that Memorial Human Rights Center "should be shut down," adding that "the absence of the foreign agent label on its materials may lead to the formation of a negative image of the country and cause depression among citizens."
The Supreme Court started hearings into the Prosecutor-General's request to shut down Memorial International in November.
Rights activists say there are no legal grounds to liquidate the organization, which has been devoted since the late 1980s to researching and memorializing the crimes of the Soviet Union, as well as to promoting human rights in Russia and former Soviet republics. They say the Prosecutor-General’s demand to shut down Memorial International is "a politically motivated decision."
Memorial has characterized the actions of the Russian authorities as "political pressure" and countered that "there are no legal grounds for liquidation."
Russia’s so-called foreign agent legislation was adopted in 2012 and has been modified repeatedly. It requires nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance, and that the government deems to be engaged in political activity to be registered, to identify themselves as “foreign agents,” and to submit to audits.
Later modifications of the law targeted foreign-funded media, including RFE/RL’s Russian Service, six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services, and Current Time.
On December 15, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning persecution and politically motivated attempts of the Russian authorities to liquidate the two veteran human rights groups.
