“Memorial”* considers sources of Putin’s critical phrases as secondary

When commenting on the trial against the “Memorials”* NGOs (the International Historical, Educational, Charity and Human Rights Society “Memorial” (International Memorial) and the Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Memorial”), Russian President Vladimir Putin did not ask for the position of the NGOs. The concept of “justifying extremism” is not formulated in the legislation, and the right to criticize court decisions is enshrined in the Constitution of Russia, the HRC “Memorial”* emphasizes.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on November 8, the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office filed a lawsuit to liquidate the HRC “Memorial”*, with indication that the NGO was allegedly justifying terrorism. President Putin expressed his hope for unbiased trial, but reproached the NGO for “demonstrative violations.” The statement came amid the accusations against human rights defenders of protecting banned organizations and the inclusion of Nazi criminals in the list of victims of repressions.

The Russian President has noted that the “Memorial”* advocates for organizations recognized as terrorist in Russia. He also said that the list of victims of political repressions compiled by the “Memorial” included Pyotr Petrovskikh, Lisovsky, and Kovalevsky, persons involved in the executions of Jews.

Criticism of specific court decisions and justification of terrorism are completely different concepts, the HRC “Memorial”* notes. The “Memorial” has always condemned violence and any manifestation of extremism and terrorism.

After on August 25, a report was released with accusations of including Nazi criminals in the list of victims of Stalinist repressions, Yan Rachinsky, the chair of the Board of the “International Memorial”, noted that a mistake had been made in the databases.

The “International Memorial”* explains that any database with millions of persons (containing more than 3 million names) always includes errors. “We are trying to identify and correct them. As for the names mentioned by Mr. Putin, they were blocked in our database three months ago,” the message of the “International Memorial”* states.

*The organization has been put on the register of foreign agents by the Russian Ministry of Justice.