{"id":5382,"date":"2021-11-26T03:23:09","date_gmt":"2021-11-26T03:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/the-biggest-threat-in-our-30-year-history-the-rationale-behind-the-russian-authorities-attempt-to-liquidate-the-human-rights-group-memorial-is-absurd-even-by-its-own-logic.html"},"modified":"2021-11-26T03:23:09","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T03:23:12","slug":"the-biggest-threat-in-our-30-year-history-the-rationale-behind-the-russian-authorities-attempt-to-liquidate-the-human-rights-group-memorial-is-absurd-even-by-its-own-logic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/the-biggest-threat-in-our-30-year-history-the-rationale-behind-the-russian-authorities-attempt-to-liquidate-the-human-rights-group-memorial-is-absurd-even-by-its-own-logic.html","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The biggest threat in our 30-year history\u2019 The rationale behind the Russian authorities\u2019 attempt to liquidate the human rights group Memorial is absurd (even by its own logic)"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"EmbedBlock-module_root__28k9U EmbedBlock-module_cc__1BQ5g EmbedBlock-module_full__1TEjx EmbedBlock-module_desktop__SF5a_ EmbedBlock-module_proportional__3lAv4\">Saffron Golikov \/ Kommersant<\/figure>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_lead__35nXx  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">In November, Russia\u2019s prosecutor general filed a lawsuit to liquidate Memorial International \u2014\u00a0Russia\u2019s oldest and most authoritative human rights organization. Memorial was accused of violating Russia\u2019s legislation on \u201cforeign agents\u201d by failing to include the required labels on its materials. Almost all of Memorial\u2019s alleged violations were reported to Roskomnadzor, Russia\u2019s federal censorship agency, by the FSB\u2019s Ingushetia office. Meduza explains why that particular office has played such an important role in this story,\u00a0and whether its complaints against Memorial are at all justified.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"SimpleBlock-module_h3__2Kv7Y  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\"><strong>What was Memorial up to in Ingushetia?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">Memorial International has <strong>offices<\/strong> in every region of the North Caucasus \u2014\u00a0except for Chechnya. Its office there was closed after Oyub Titiyev, the head of the office, was sentenced to four years in prison for alleged drug possession (human rights advocates have repeatedly claimed that the case was fabricated).<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">After Titiyev\u2019s arrest, police searched Memorial\u2019s Chechnya office, while the organization\u2019s Ingushetia office, located in Nazran, was burned down. Memorial\u2019s team believes the arson was linked to the persecution they faced in Chechnya; the perpetrators were never found. Titiyev was released early on parole, but his takeaway was that working for Memorial is currently too dangerous.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"EmbedBlock-module_root__28k9U EmbedBlock-module_cc__1BQ5g EmbedBlock-module_default__LSDny EmbedBlock-module_proportional__3lAv4\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"\/impro\/X3Mvo7WnELOPPDV8O-s_92pLlzLqwbUcLDwGeQymUkQ\/fill\/325\/0\/ce\/1\/aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWR1\/emEuaW8vaW1hZ2Uv\/YXR0YWNobWVudHMv\/aW1hZ2VzLzAwNy8y\/NTUvNTkzL29yaWdp\/bmFsL3lLVklhbUh2\/OXF4bGhydFp2OG1S\/bHcuanBn.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" alt=\"Memorial Human Rights Centre Chechnya office head Oyub Titiyev\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/impro\/X3Mvo7WnELOPPDV8O-s_92pLlzLqwbUcLDwGeQymUkQ\/fill\/325\/0\/ce\/1\/aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWR1\/emEuaW8vaW1hZ2Uv\/YXR0YWNobWVudHMv\/aW1hZ2VzLzAwNy8y\/NTUvNTkzL29yaWdp\/bmFsL3lLVklhbUh2\/OXF4bGhydFp2OG1S\/bHcuanBn.jpg\" alt=\"Memorial Human Rights Centre Chechnya office head Oyub Titiyev\"><\/noscript>Memorial Human Rights Centre Chechnya office head Oyub TitiyevMagomed Chabayev \/ Kommersant<\/figure>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">There have also long been tensions between Memorial and the Ingushetian security forces, though Memorial\u2019s Ingushetia office is still working at full capacity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">\u201cIngushetia is a unique place. During the Chechen wars, it took in a large number of refugees, but the local security forces didn\u2019t act so brutally,\u201d said Alexander Cherkasov, head of Memorial. \u201cAnd under [Republic of Ingushetia president from 2002-2008] Murat Zyazikov, it became the biggest flashpoint in the North Caucasus. After that, he was replaced by Yunus-bek Yevkurov, a former special forces officer, who did his best to conduct counterterrorism operations with a human face. Of course, they didn\u2019t like us back then, either, to say the least. But Yevkurov deployed a smart-power strategy, which included conducting a dialogue with human rights advocates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">According to Cherkasov, under Yevkurov, human rights activists in Ingushetia were mainly engaged in civilian control within the scope of counter-terrorism operations. Memorial also actively helped the suspects in the \u201cIngushetia Bolotnoe Case,\u201d which was opened after a rally in Magas against a change in the border between Ingushetia and Chechnya in the spring of 2019. Since then, 52 people have been charged in the case. According to Memorial\u2019s lawyer Natalia Morozova, the Ingushetian FSB\u2019s attacks on Memorial are in part due to Memorial\u2019s work defending the Bolotnoe Case suspects.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">By 2020, Memorial had won a total of 15 cases in the European Court of Human Rights in Ingushetia: the state was deemed responsible for torturing and kidnapping Ingushetia residents, as well as conducting unjust trials. In the case Tsechoyev vs. Russia, argued by Memorial\u2019s lawyers, for example, security officials were found guilty of torturing local resident Magomet Tsechoyev to extract confessions that led to his being sentenced to 13 years in prison. The Court ultimately ordered that the victims be paid over a million euros in compensation.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"SimpleBlock-module_h3__2Kv7Y  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\"><strong>How Ingushetian officials fought against Memorial<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">In November 2021, the Prosecutor General called for Memorial International to be liquidated for showing \u201cpersistent disregard for the law.\u201d Prosecutors claimed the organization had repeatedly committed violations and failed to correct them. All of the violations in question were related to the law on \u201cforeign agents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">The Prosecutor General\u2019s Supreme Court lawsuit against the NGO consists of 20 points: Memorial failed to include the \u201cforeign agent\u201d label on its Facebook page, its Twitter profile, its VKontakte page, Instagram, YouTube, the site 1968.memo.ru, the victims of political repression database base.memo.ru, the database of USSR state security personnel nkvd.memo.ru, and the Topography of Terror website topos.memo.ru.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">Two other administrative violations listed in the lawsuit have to do with the 2020 Moscow International Book Fair. A review conducted by the prosecutors has established that Memorial sold the books \u201cDad\u2019s Letter: Letters sent by fathers from the Gulag to their children,\u201d \u201cCreativity and Everyday Life in the Gulag,\u201d \u201cThe Sandarmokh Memorial Site,\u201d and a Soviet history-themed board game called \u201c74,\u201d all without the \u201cforeign agent\u201d label. All of these books (except the Sandarmokh one), however, were published in 2015-2016 \u2014 long before the authorities declared Memorial a \u201cforeign agent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">The majority of the 20 violations listed in the Prosecutor General\u2019s suit were compiled by Roskomnadzor at the request of the FSB\u2019s Ingushetia office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">Another suit \u2014 this one intended to liquidate Memorial\u2019s Human Rights Center \u2014\u00a0was filed by the Moscow Prosecutor\u2019s Office at the Moscow City Court, though it\u2019s also connected to the Ingushetian authorities. The suit is based on a ruling made by Moscow\u2019s Tverskoy District Court, based on information obtained from Roskomnadzor, that Memorial had violated the law. It was the FSB\u2019s Ingushetia office, however, that first informed Roskomnadzor of Memorial\u2019s failure to include the \u201cforeign agent\u201d label on its Facebook, Vkontakte, and Twitter pages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">The Moscow Prosecutor\u2019s lawsuit includes four violations, three of which are the missing \u201cforeign agent\u201d labels on social media that the Ingushetian FSB agents pointed out. The fourth violation, brought to their attention by a citizen named Andrey Shuvalov, is Memorial\u2019s failure to include the label on their site legal.memo.hrc.org. Two entities are being held accountable for each violation: the overall organization and its leader, Alexander Charkasov.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"SimpleBlock-module_h3__2Kv7Y  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\"><strong>What accusations is Memorial facing?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">Russia\u2019s law on \u201cforeign agent\u201d nonprofits was passed in 2012. Starting then, any NGO designated a \u201cforeign agent\u201d was required to include a special label on all of its materials. Unlike \u201cforeign agent\u201d media outlets, which are required by a separate Roskomnadzor order to include a specific text in a specific font size to their content, the exact requirements for NGOs were not specified. The law only states that materials \u201cmust be accompanied by an indication that they have been published or distributed by a non-profit organization that performs the function of a foreign agent.\u201d There was no indication, however, that that message must be included at the beginning of every message (like in the case of \u201cforeign agent\u201d media organizations), for example. Lawyers for Memorial International also complained to Roskomnadzor that it\u2019s unclear what exactly counts as the kind of \u201cmaterial\u201d that must be labelled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">In 2014, the Justice Ministry added Memorial\u2019s Human Rights Center to its \u201cforeign agents\u201d registry, and in 2016, its parent organization, Memorial International. Back then, the organization announced that it considered the decision unlawful and would appeal it in court. Nevertheless, after paying several fines, they decided to start including the label after all, according to Memorial lawyer Natalia Morozova. Indeed, a report from a verification conducted by the Justice Ministry in 2016 (Meduza has obtained a copy) said that Memorial had corrected its label violations, and that no new violations had been found.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">In July 2019, however, Roskomnadzor received a report from the FSB\u2019s Ingushetia office. In the report, the officers claimed Memorial was once again in violation of the \u201cforeign agent\u201d legislation, having failed to include the label on its social media posts. The report also included screenshots: a post about an exhibit dedicated to the book \u201cHeart of a Dog,\u201d a Facebook post telling the story of the Stalin-era repression victim Vasily Chubukov, a post quoting an anonymous letter to Stalin about famine on collective farms, and a post announcing a book about the Katyn massacre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">It\u2019s true that Memorial failed to include the label on its social media pages \u2014 their reasoning was that these pages included links to their main site, which had the required label. \u201cThe FSB just looked at the content of our social media pages, which Roskomnadzor hadn\u2019t previously required to be labeled \u2014\u00a0there had been no mention of anything but our website \u2014\u00a0and sent a ten-page report to Roskomnadzor,\u201d said Cherkasov.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">Roskomnadzor reviewed the FSB report a month later. \u201cAfter we were called to report to Roskomnadzor about the complaint, we started checking all of our social media posts and including the label everywhere,\u201d said Morozova. But the Tverskoy District Court still found Memorial, as well as its general director, Yan Rachinsky, guilty of administrative violations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">Then, in November 2019, someone named Andrey Shuvaklov (Meduza was unable to find out who he is by the time of publication) filed a complaint with Roskomnadzor about the lack of foreign agent labels on several of Memorial\u2019s sites \u2014 base.memo.ru, 1968.memo.ru, and nkvd.memo.ru \u2014 as well as on the \u201cBlogs\u201d page on Ekho Moskvy\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">\u201cWe didn\u2019t label these websites because we thought about it like this: these are actually databases, not some kind of new information that we created. And on the \u201cYear of Human Rights\u201d website (1968.memo.ru), there was a note that said it was created using money from the Canadian Embassy and the Heinrich B\u00f6ll Foundation \u2014 so readers were already informed about the foreign funding,\u201d said Morozova.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">Several other reports were compiled about Shuvaklov\u2019s complaint, and the Tverskoy District Court ruled that administrative offenses had been committed. All of these sites now include labels about the organization\u2019s \u201cforeign agent\u201d status.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">Memorial has already paid more than six thousand rubles ($81 thousand) in fines for violating \u201cforeign agent\u201d status disclosure requirements. The money was collected via crowdfunding. For each violation, both the organization itself and its leader, Yan Rachinsky, were fined.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">In 2020,\u00a0at Memorial International\u2019s request, Moscow municipal deputy Yelena Kotenochkina wrote a letter to Roskomnadzor asking them to clearly explain the labelling requirements for foreign agents to ensure Memorial could avoid further violations. The agency said in a response that \u201cexisting legislation does not include requirements for the form and order [of \u2018foreign agent\u2019 labels],\u201d and that the Justice Ministry was responsible for monitoring NGOs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">The Prosecutor General\u2019s lawsuit highlights the \u201csystematic character\u201d of Memorial\u2019s violations. At the same time, the Roskomnadzor reports that the suit relies on were compiled over a relatively short time period \u2014 mostly during the fall of 2019, when Roskomnadzor was preparing several such reports every day. What\u2019s more, Memorial didn\u2019t find out that it was required to include the foreign agent label on every social media post until after it had been fined \u2014 despite the fact that the Justice Ministry hadn\u2019t previously considered a lack of \u201cforeign agent\u201d status notification on social media to be a violation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">In addition, as proof that Memorial\u2019s violations were intentional, the Prosecutor Generation cited statements made by the organization nine years ago, in September 2012. In the statements, Memorial criticized the \u201cforeign agents\u201d law, which had just been passed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">The Prosecutor General considers Memorial\u2019s failure to include the \u201cforeign agent\u201d label on all of its websites and social media pages to be a violation of the Russian Constitutions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. \u201cThe [of the organization] is a proportionate response to the violations committed,\u201d said the agency.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"SimpleBlock-module_h3__2Kv7Y  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\"><strong>Why the authorities chose now to try to liquidate Memorial<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">\u201cAfter he [Yunus-bek Yevkurov] left office, they cracked down on us \u2014 and not because of the work we were doing,\u201d said Alexander Cherkasov, referring to the fact that the Ingushetian FSB\u2019s objections were related not to Memorial\u2019s work in Ingushetia, but to their lack of \u201cforeign agent\u201d labels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">The FSB\u2019s first complaint to Roskomnadzor was filed in August 2019 \u2014 a month after Yunus-bek Yevkurov left office. He was replaced by former Prosecutor of Ingushetia Mahmud-Ali Kalimatov, who, according to Cherkasov, is currently remaining \u201cinconspicuous,\u201d not getting involved in the dispute between the authorities and Memorial.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">For the FSB in Ingushetia, this has all been just a way to get revenge: Memorial reported on the protests in Magas and assisted the suspects involved in criminal and administrative cases, which annoyed security officials, so they decided to go after the organization, according to Memorial Chairman Oleg Orlov.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">\u201cIf it hadn&#8217;t been Ingushetia, they would have found something else,\u201d said Orlov. \u201cMost NGOs are currently facing fines, which can be the basis for liquidation \u2014 but that\u2019s a political decision. The thing is, the means to do this was created in 2012. Back then, we said it was a repressive law that would allow the authorities to nitpick organizations and eventually ban them altogether. Now, nine years have passed, and nine years later, they\u2019ve finally decided to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD  SimpleBlock-module_center__2rjif\">Memorial\u2019s leaders consider the Prosecutor General\u2019s lawsuit the biggest threat to the organization\u2019s existence in its entire 30-year history. Still, they haven\u2019t stopped their work, according to Memorial head Yan Rachinsky. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to imagine that human rights violations will stop in Russia after Memorial\u2019s liquidation,\u201d said lawyer Natalia Morozova, \u201cso we\u2019ll continue to work, most likely in other formats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MaterialNote-module_note_caption__1ezSo\">Story by <strong>Anastasia Yakoreva<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MaterialNote-module_note_credit__PuFyX\">Translation by <strong>Sam Breazeale<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--noindex--><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/meduza.io\/en\/feature\/2021\/11\/23\/the-biggest-threat-in-our-30-year-history\">Source<\/a><!--\/noindex--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saffron Golikov \/ Kommersant In November, Russia\u2019s prosecutor general filed a lawsuit to liquidate Memorial International \u2014\u00a0Russia\u2019s oldest and most authoritative human rights organization. Memorial was accused of violating Russia\u2019s legislation on \u201cforeign agents\u201d by failing to include the required labels on its materials. Almost all of Memorial\u2019s alleged violations were reported to Roskomnadzor, Russia\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"\/impro\/X3Mvo7WnELOPPDV8O-s_92pLlzLqwbUcLDwGeQymUkQ\/fill\/325\/0\/ce\/1\/aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWR1\/emEuaW8vaW1hZ2Uv\/YXR0YWNobWVudHMv\/aW1hZ2VzLzAwNy8y\/NTUvNTkzL29yaWdp\/bmFsL3lLVklhbUh2\/OXF4bGhydFp2OG1S\/bHcuanBn.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news-from-russia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018The biggest threat in our 30-year history\u2019 The rationale behind the Russian authorities\u2019 attempt to liquidate the human rights group Memorial is absurd (even by its own logic) - Learn Russian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/the-biggest-threat-in-our-30-year-history-the-rationale-behind-the-russian-authorities-attempt-to-liquidate-the-human-rights-group-memorial-is-absurd-even-by-its-own-logic.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018The biggest threat in our 30-year history\u2019 The rationale behind the Russian authorities\u2019 attempt to liquidate the human rights group Memorial is absurd (even by its own logic) - Learn Russian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Saffron Golikov \/ Kommersant In November, Russia\u2019s prosecutor general filed a lawsuit to liquidate Memorial International \u2014\u00a0Russia\u2019s oldest and most authoritative human rights organization. Memorial was accused of violating Russia\u2019s legislation on \u201cforeign agents\u201d by failing to include the required labels on its materials. 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