Joint statement of Australia, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States on Russian courts’ decisions to liquidate Memorial

“We deplore the decisions by two Russian courts to forcibly close International Memorial and the Memorial Human Rights Centre. For more than three decades, Memorial has fulfilled a unique role in documenting historical crimes and recovering for posterity the memory of the tens of millions of victims of political repression in the country. Memorial has also advocated tirelessly for the protection of human rights in Russia, exposing appalling abuses, including in the North Caucasus, and maintaining a growing list of individuals it considers political prisoners. The claim by Russian authorities that the Memorial Human Rights Centre’s principled and peaceful work ‘justifies extremism and terrorism’ cannot be accepted. Memorial’s work has never been more needed. Source