Memorial Center files appeal against court ruling on its shutdown in Russia

MOSCOW. Aug 18 (Interfax) - Representatives of the Memorial Human Rights Center (designated as a foreign-agent NGO by the Russian Justice Ministry and shut down) said on Telegram on Thursday that they had filed a cassation appeal against the ruling of the Moscow City Court and the First General-Jurisdiction Court of Appeals that shut down the organization.

"Representatives of the closed Memorial Human Rights Center have filed an appeal in cassation against the court rulings [...] The organization's representatives also stressed that the compulsory liquidation of the Memorial Human Rights Center violated the rights to freedom of association and freedom of speech. On June 14, 2022, the European Court of Human Rights issued a judgement in the case of Ecodefence and Others v. Russia. The court found that the inclusion of the Memorial Human Rights Center in the register of foreign-agent nongovernmental organizations violates the organization's rights," Memorial representatives said.

On December 29, 2021, the Moscow City Court upheld a lawsuit of the Moscow Prosecutor's Office to shut down the Memorial Human Rights Center. On April 5, 2022, the First General-Jurisdiction Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal against the Moscow City Court ruling. The decision on the compulsory liquidation of the Memorial Human Rights Center thus came into effect.