Amnesty Seeks Investigation Into Russian Raid On Research Center

Amnesty International has urged Russian authorities to probe the circumstances of the police raid on the Memorial rights group's Research and Information Center Memorial.

In a statement issued on December 5, Amnesty International calls "this raid with its violations...a further indication of the climate of harassment faced by civil society and human rights defenders in Russia."

The group claims that "there appear to be more and more limitations on the right to freedom of expression, as well as the rights to freedom of assembly and association in the Russian Federation," adding, "The space for dissenting views, independent media and independent organizations to operate is shrinking."

The institution at the center of the raid researches Soviet-era rights abuses, including a project to highlight Stalin-era treatment within the Gulag through a "virtual museum."