A blow with a brush

The Ministry of Justice sent a request to the Supreme Court to transfer the hearings appointed on November 13 in the case of the Memorial Society. This was reported by Interfax with reference to the press service of the department.

On November 5, officials explained, the Ministry of Justice received a petition of the Memorial to transfer the hearings. Social activists motivated their request by the fact that on November 22-23 they plan to hold a conference "in order to eliminate violations identified by the Ministry of Justice." In this regard, the department decided to meet the Memorial.

According to TASS, on the afternoon of November 10, Deputy Minister of Justice Sergey Gerasimov, commenting on the intention of the department to file such a petition, assured: "We have never had the liquidation of NGOs, which do not comply with the legislation." The official added that in the Ministry of Justice, when making a decision, "they studied the appeal very carefully (to Vladimir Putin. - Ed.) The Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia Ella Aleksandrovna Pamfilova on the postponement of the consideration of the claim."

Earlier on Monday, it became known that social activists turned to the Supreme Court with a similar petition. A copy of the paper was also sent to the Ministry of Justice.

On Sunday, the press secretary of Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov said that he did not know whether Pamfilova’s appeal was received in the name of the head of state . Peskov added that Putin will be able to consider the appeal if it acts only after returning from a foreign tour, which will end on November 16.

On the eve of Pamfilova asked Putin to help with the review of the court claim. In her opinion, claims to a human rights society are formal in nature, which can be quickly eliminated.

In mid -October, the head of the Presidential Council of Human Rights Mikhail Fedotov stood up for the Memorial. He was supported by the chairman of the Moscow Helsinki group Lyudmila Alekseev. “If they close the“ memorial ”, then it will be a shame on an international scale,” said Alekseeva then.

On October 15, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Turbirn Jagund said that the Ministry of Justice should not allow the closure of the Memorial society . “It is a symbol of the struggle for human rights, protect the rights of depressed and support the democratization process in Russia,” he said. “The loss of the Memorial will undoubtedly become a shock for many Russians and can lead to a deterioration in the image of the Russian Federation in the international arena.”

On October 22, the head of the European Parliament Martin Schulz sent a letter to the Russian government asking him not to close the Memorial. The next day, a resolution of the EP was adopted in defense of the Memorial. In it, the EP “calls on the authorities of the Russian Federation to terminate all acts of oppression, including at the legal level, in relation to the Memorial Society, the Human Rights Center“ Memorial ”, their members and all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation and guarantee that they will be able to perform their legal activities in any circumstances without interference.”

The Euro -deputies also considered that "the Law on Foreign Agents is a violation of the obligations of the Russian Federation to the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe." In the EP, she also expressed concerns about recent amendments to this legislative act, which allowed the Ministry of Justice to be forcibly included in the register of “foreign agents” those organizations that are actually such, but did not submit the relevant statement. In this regard, deputies called on Russia "to cancel laws containing norms incompatible with its international and constitutional obligations to protect human rights."

In support of the "Memorial", more than 250 leading French scientists and teachers made the appeal . The full text of the letter to the Russian Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov and the ambassador in France Alexander Orlov was published on the NGO website. The nationwide federation of non -governmental organizations of Poland and 30 Polish NPOs also opposed the closure of the Memorial.