MOSCOW -- Supporters of the Memorial Human Rights Center in Moscow --labeled as a foreign agent and shut down by a court in December -- have created a new group called Memorial, The Center To Defend Human Rights.
The group announced on June 17 that the new human rights center was established as an organization without the status of a legal entity.
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"The new organization will document and publish information about significant violations of human rights, and will contribute to the defense of the rights of victims of gross violations, including political prisoners and vulnerable groups," the founders' statement says.
The Memorial Human Rights Center was shut down by a Moscow court decision in late December at the request of Moscow prosecutors who accused one of the country's most respected human rights organizations of violating the law on "foreign agents."
In a parallel case in December, the Supreme Court ruled that Memorial International, a stand-alone group and the umbrella organization for many regional branches and the Memorial Human Rights Center, should be liquidated on the same charge.
Memorial and its supporters called the move by the Russian authorities politically motivated.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has demanded Russian authorities suspend the implementation of the courts' decisions while the ECHR hears Memorial's case.