Just hours after the announcement of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, a Russian court ordered the seizure of the human rights organization’s Moscow offices. The offices have been converted into “public property”, Russian news agency Interfax quoted the court ruling issued on Friday. Memorial has been banned in Russia since late 2021.
Memorial dissolved last year
Memorial has been banned in Russia since late 2021. Founded in 1989, Memorial is the oldest and most important human rights organization in Russia. In late 2021, the Russian Supreme Court first ordered a ban on the Memorial, and later a Moscow court ordered the organization to be dissolved.
The human rights organization will receive the Nobel Peace Prize this year, along with Belarusian politician and human rights activist Ales Byalyatski and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties (CCL). The award winners have made an “extraordinary contribution” to documenting war crimes, human rights violations and abuse of power, committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen said in her statement.
Nobel Prize important signal for Russians
Memorial co-founder Irina Scherbakova sees this year’s Nobel Peace Prize as an important signal to people in Russia who criticize Putin’s regime and the war in Ukraine. The Nobel Committee’s decision is a happy event for many of them, Scherbakowa said Friday night in Jena. Because many people in Russia are afraid of massive repression and police violence.
But there will be a time after President Putin, Scherbakova stressed. “I very much hope that Russia will eventually find a way out of this moral and political catastrophe and for democracy and freedom.”
The historian and Germanist Scherbakowa is a visiting professor at the University of Jena and lives in Weimar. “They showed how the courage of a few can impact the entire world,” said university president Walter Rosenthal. “Thank you for your courage and perseverance.”
expropriation of premises
Sherbakova pointed out that authorities in Russia continued to take action against her organization. Specifically, it is about the expropriation of facilities that served as a memorial center. She praised the great solidarity she and her fellow activists experienced after Germany’s ban. In Russia itself, too, the work has received widespread support from the population in recent years – especially among young people.
In his estimation, many people in Russia have become more realistic about the war in Ukraine in recent months. She campaigned to help conscientious objectors and give them refuge. “Every person who flees this war is one less soldier in Ukraine.”