Russian authorities this Tuesday raided the homes and offices of several human rights defenders associated with the Memorial movement, which opposes the Kremlin and won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
The spate of house searches – after which police detained Memorial activists for questioning – is part of the Kremlin’s ongoing crackdown on dissident activists in recent years, which intensified after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Memorial group maintains a database of victims of political repression, and its names include three people convicted of collaborating with Nazi Germany during the Soviet era.
Now the group has revealed that authorities are using the names on the list in their lawsuit against Memorial.
Oleg Orlov – co-chair of the group, whose apartment was raided on Tuesday – called the Kremlin’s accusations “idiotic fantasies” in comments to journalists before being taken to a police station for questioning.
The Memorial – one of the oldest and most prestigious Russian human rights movements – was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, along with Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski and the Ukrainian organization Center for Civil Liberties.
Established in the Soviet era in 1987 to ensure that victims of communist repression were remembered, the Memorial has continued its human rights work by collecting information about violations committed by the post-Soviet Russian regime.
Because of its activity, the group has been declared a “foreign agent” by the Department of Justice, in a designation that allows for additional government oversight.
The searches carried out on Tuesday come after Vladimir Putin asked police to crack down on opponents’ attempts to “shake up Russian society”.
The searches of Memorial activists sparked outrage among Russian opposition figures such as Dmitry Gudkov, an exiled activist, who called the searches “an act of intimidation”.
Source: DN
