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Russian court orders seizure of Memorial's Moscow headquarters hours after rights group wins Nobel Peace Prize

A Russian court on Friday ordered the seizure of Memorial's Moscow headquarters hours after rights group was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

TN World Desk

Updated Oct 8, 2022, 07:30 IST

Members of Memorial rights group (File image)

Photo : AP

Moscow: A Russian court on Friday ordered the seizure of Memorial's Moscow headquarters. The ruling was delivered by the Tverskoy court hours after the rights group was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The court reportedly ordered Memorial's Moscow headquarters to "become state property", reported the Interfax agency. Notably, in December last year, the Russian Supreme Court issued a verdict to shut down the human rights organisation.

In the Tverskoy court, a representative of the general prosecutor's office accused the group of "rehabilitating Nazi criminals and discrediting authorities and creating a false image of the USSR", reported AFP. The human rights group was established in 1987 in the former Soviet Union.

Also Read: Russia: Over 1,000 detained after protests erupt against Putin's announcement of partial mobilisation of civilians in Ukraine.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Memorial became the largest human rights group in Russia. It established a centre of documentation on victims of the Stalinist era. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov and human rights advocate Svetlana Gannushkina were among the founders of the organisation.

Earlier on Friday, the group was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with jailed Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski and Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties. Western countries hailed the laureates. "We believe that it is a war that is a result of an authoritarian regime, aggressively committing an act of aggression," Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen said as quoted by RTE, an Irish news service.

Reiss-Andersen also urged Belarus to release Bialiatski from prison. Notably, Bialiatski remained in prison from 2011 to 2014. He was again arrested following large-scale demonstrations against the Belarusian government.

Meanwhile, The Center for Civil Liberties was founded in Kyiv in 2007.

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