Amid awarding Nobel Peace Prize, Moscow court takes away "Memorial"* building

A court in Moscow has invalidated the deal of transferring the building of the liquidated "International Memorial"* located in Karetny Ryad Street to the Research and Educational Centre (R&EC) and rejected the defence's requests to send the claim to arbitration or postpone its consideration; the court has ignored the defence's arguments about the legality of the deal. The court ruling was announced on the day the "Memorial" was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the court, acting at the request of the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO), arrested the office of the "International Memorial"* that was legally donated to another organization. Human rights defenders treated this as an attempt to raider the property. Besides, the personal bank accounts of Elena Zhemkova, the executive director of the "International Memorial"*, and Boris Belenkin, the executive director of the R&EC "Memorial", were blocked.

The Nobel Committee announced that the "Memorial"* became one of the laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize. The decision was made with account of the long-term work of the "Memorials"* for the benefit of peace and respect for human rights; the award gives a chance for both "Memorials"* to continue their human rights activities, human rights defenders have pointed out.

As noted in the Telegram channel of the "Memorial" Centre for Defence of Human Rights, at the trial, advocates tried to prove that the transfer of the building to the R&EC was fully justified and legal.