Translated material
The ECHR demanded that the decision to liquidate Memorial be suspended
On December 29, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) demanded that Russia suspend the execution of decisions to liquidate the International Society Memorial and the Human Rights Center Memorial. About this in the telegram channel of the center.
Let us remind you that on December 28, the Supreme Court of Russia liquidated “International Memorial” - allegedly due to numerous violations by the organization of the law on “foreign agents”. A similar decision was made by the Moscow City Court on the 29th regarding the Memorial Human Rights Center.
OVD -Info lawyer Tatyana Glushkova, who participated in the trials in the Memorials cases and is also a co-author of the request to the ECHR on , commented on the request of the European Court:
Rule 39 “First of all, yesterday’s decision of the ECHR is a historic decision. Because until now, rule 39 has been applied to a legal entity only once - . This rule has been applied to NPOs for the first time.
in the case of the Georgian TV channel “Rustavi 2” We submitted a request under Rule 39 on November 18, before the first hearings on the cases regarding “International Memorial” and the Human Rights Center “Memorial”, because we did not know how quickly their consideration would end and whether it would turn out that way, that we will only have one meeting each. The European Court did not make a decision on Rule 39 immediately, but decided to wait for the decisions of the Russian courts. And as soon as the Supreme Court and the Moscow City Court made their decisions, the ECHR also made its decision.
This Rule 39 decision was made in application no. 9988/13, which has been pending before the European Court since February 2013. This complaint was filed shortly after the law on NPOs—“foreign agents”—came into force. It was submitted by eleven NPOs (at that time, none of the organizations were yet on the register of “foreign agents”). These NGOs - among them International Memorial and the Human Rights Center Memorial - assumed that they would become victims of this law. Reality showed that they were not mistaken: 10 out of 11 of these NPOs were on the register, the 11th organization - the Moscow Helsinki Group - was not on the register because it immediately refused foreign funding. Subsequently, complaint No. 9988/13 was communicated, the European Court began to consider it and asked questions to the parties involved. In March 2018, the communication process was completed - from now on we are waiting for a ruling, but the ECHR has not yet issued one.
The essence of the European Court's decision under Rule 39 is a ban on the liquidation of Memorials before the ECtHR considers complaint No. 9988/13. This means that, most likely, it [the ECHR] will decide it in the near future. You need to understand that the “near future” in the world of the European Court is not a month, but rather a period of about a year, maybe a year and a half. But, of course, it may also be that the consideration of this case will take place very soon. No exact forecasts can be given, but in the foreseeable future we will finally see a ruling on this complaint.
In general, Rule 39 applies in cases where, without interim measures, the applicant faces serious and irreparable harm. The decision does not say what exactly the ECHR considered serious and irreparable damage, but it can be assumed that if the organizations are liquidated, the applicant will, in fact, disappear. And this will not provide an opportunity to fully consider the complaint. It is possible to resolve this matter, but in what sense, if the applicant no longer exists.”