Rights defenders find it their duty to support "Memorial"* near courthouse

The "International Memorial"* has been long successfully engaged in historical and educational work "without silencing and varnishing"; this work should not stop. This was stated by the human rights defenders who gathered in front of the building of the Russian Supreme Court (SC), where the trial was taking place on the lawsuit lodged by the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) against the "Memorial"*.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 14, the Russia's SC began considering GPO's claim demanding to liquidate the "International Memorial" because it had failed to mark its materials with the label of the foreign agent. Many people came to support the "Memorial"; an activist was detained near the courthouse. The SC agreed to accept the signatures to the petition in defence of the "Memorials"*, but rejected other motions.

The first session was held on November 25, when 200-300 opponents of the closure of the organizations gathered outside the courthouse. The public outcry sparked by the lawsuit testifies to the importance of the work of the "International Memorial", Tatiana Glushkova, a lawyer, has stated.

At the trial, the GPO presented additional documents – an act of inspecting one of the resources of the "Memorial"*, conducted on December 13. "This means that the GPO understands that the earlier presented materials are clearly not enough to get the 'Memorial' condemned," said Grigory Vaipan, a lawyer for the "Memorial"*.

The GPO's representative asked to attach the act of inspecting the topos.memo.ru page on the Instagram to the case files. In her opinion, this illustrates that the "International Memorial"* continued not to label its materials posted in social networks.

Most of the episodes incriminated to the "Memorial"* cannot be taken into account, since a year after the payment of the fine for an administrative offense, it is cancelled, the lawyer has noted.

Svetlana Gannushkina, a human rights defender, has noted that for her to come to the building of the Supreme Court on this day is "a way to satisfy her own sense of citizenship."