In a nine-line paragraph, Jean-Luc Mélenchon bluntly explains his decision to vote against this text. THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
In 2014, the NGO, co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, could not count on Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s support when it was threatened with dissolution by Vladimir Putin. The Russian judiciary today ordered the seizure of Memorial’s offices in Moscow.
The pans are piling up for the leader of rebellious France. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, MEP at the time, spoke out clearly against a European Parliament resolution of 23 October 2014 denouncing the dissolution of the NGO Memorial in Russia. A vote by the original rebel that would have gone unnoticed had it not been so exhumed on Twitter.
During his tenure as MEP, Jean-Luc Mélenchon reported extensively on his votes during plenary sessions. From 20-23 October 2014, MEPs are invited to vote on a resolution tabled by five political groups (ECR, EPP, Verts/ALE, S&D, ALD) aimed at denouncing the dissolution of the NGO Memorial, launched by the Russian Foreign Agents Law.
In a nine-line paragraph, Jean-Luc Mélenchon bluntly explains his decision to vote against this text: “The resolution aims to condemn Russia. We find that when the EU is concerned about Russia’s non-compliance with international legal obligations, it is much less vigilant in other cases (editor’s note from Hungary)”. The Tribune even called the resolution a “tense text” aimed at “isolating Russia”. However, the resolution does not envisage sanctions against Lenin’s country, but rather an increase in European financial aid for Russian civil society.
“I don’t remember that event very well, but Jean-Luc Mélenchon had to vote against it to push the European institutions to their limits and confront them with their contradictions,” explains Le Figaro, an LFI MEP who remains anonymous would like and voted for dissolution. People often misinterpret the no vote, and then the context was different than today.”
SEE ALSO – Russia: Nobel Peace Prize gives NGO Memorial ‘moral strength’
Read alsoCan we say with Jean-Luc Mélenchon that “the police kill”?
In October 2014, the invasion of Ukraine had not yet taken place, but the authoritarian excesses of the Putin regime were already very present and the association, co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize, had paid the price for it. Founded in 1989 as part of a USSR policy of transparency, the organization is dedicated to remembering the crimes and repressions of the Soviet Union. Gradually, the NGO began to denounce the abuses of Vladimir Putin’s regime and fought for respect for human rights in Russia. In 2012, she was accused by the Kremlin of painting a bad image of the former USSR and not mentioning the “foreign agent” label in her publications. It was banned on Russian territory in 2016 before being officially liquidated in 2021.
On October 7, the Russian judiciary ordered the seizure of Memorial’s offices in Moscow. The premises of the NGO were turned into public property by the Tverskoy court. “Memorial had exposed its involvement in the rehabilitation of Nazi criminals, discrediting the authorities and creating a false image of the USSR,” Ria Novosti news agency said.