Russian MoJ initiates lawsuit to dissolve Russian "Memorial"

The Russian Supreme Court has scheduled for November 13 the consideration of the claim filed by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to dissolve the Russian organization "Memorial". This has been announced by the Russian Supreme Court. The rights defenders believe that the MoJ restricts the citizens' rights to form an association and intend to file an appeal to the Constitutional Court.

According to the website of the Russian Supreme Court, the court hearing on the case is scheduled for November 13.

According to Yan Rachinsky, a member of the Board of the International organization "Memorial", the MoJ's claims can be summarized to the fact that "most of the organizations belonging to the Russian 'Memorial' are not its structural units."

For example, from the viewpoint of the MoJ's officials, Voronezh "Memorial" is not a structural unit of the Russian "Memorial", since it "is not titled 'Voronezh regional branch of the Russian NGO 'Memorial'".

According to the rights defender, one more MoJ's argument is that the NGO's account reflects no cash flow, and, thus, the MoJ makes a conclusion that the NGO does not work. "The Russian 'Memorial' has got no account, since it is the central unit, performing coordination and issuing recommendations," Yan Rachinsky has explained.

"I believe the MoJ's lawsuit stems from the contradictions in the MoJ's and our understandings of what the civil society is and what a public organization is. From the MoJ's viewpoint, the All-Russian organization is to be created centrally as a kind of a vertical hierarchy," Oleg Orlov, a member of the Board of the "Memorial", as quoted by the RIA "Novosti".