Awarding of "Memorial" contest winners accompanied by detentions

Two persons were detained in Moscow for holding a non-sanctioned protest near the building, where today the winners of the contest for high school pupils "The Man in History; Russia – the 20^th Century" were awarded.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that since 1990 the International "Memorial" is holding its above annual contest of research works for senior school pupils. This year, the contest received 1993 works from 78 regions of Russia. The jury selected 43 best works, whose authors were invited to Moscow with their teachers.

The awarding ceremony of the participants of the 18^th All-Russian contest of historical research works of senior pupils "The Man in History; Russia – the 20^th Century" was held in the Theatre "At Nikitsky Gate" in Moscow. At the restaurant, located next-door to the theatre, before the ceremony, a young man was standing with a poster "Memorial is a foreign agent", the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent reports.

The young man explained the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he was holding a solo picket, and the inscription on his poster meant that the lectures of the "Memorial" presented to pupils within the educational programmes of the organization have "a wrong tone."

Near the entrance to the theatre, a girl was also holding a solo picket; she held a poster reading "Memorial is rewriting history of World War II". She explained her position by saying that "the ‘Memorial’, in her opinion, invites to its lectures only the historians, who speak negatively about the USSR and distort the history."

"One viewpoint is outlined: the USSR was a totalitarian state; and the number of victims of repressions is inflated," the girl-solo picketer told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

After the awarding ceremony, Oleg Orlov, a member of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that both picketers were detained by the police. "They [picketers] could not stand alone and began drawing closer – thus, they were already holding not two solo pickets, but a rally, to which they had no permit from the authorities; therefore, they both were detained and taken to the police station," Mr Orlov said.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.