In Moscow, the staff of “Memorial” came with searches

Investigators came with a search to the employees of the Memorial society (recognized as a foreign agent and liquidated), who live in Moscow. This was reported by representatives of the human rights organization in the Telegram channel. The searches are being carried out in the case of the rehabilitation of Nazism (Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to the information of the human rights center, searches are currently taking place at the homes of Memorial’s board chairman Oleg Orlov, the center’s deputy chairman Nikita Petrov, the company’s board chairman Yan Rachinsky, the mother of Memorial’s representative Alexandra Polivanova, Marina, as well as Irina Ostrovskaya, Galina Iordanskaya and Alena Kozlova.

It follows from Memorial’s report that after the search, the employees will be taken for interrogation to the investigative department for the Tverskoy District. “The ruling states that the case was initiated on March 3, 2023 against “unidentified employees” of Memorial. They are charged with the fact that the lists of victims of political terror contain the names of three people. One of them was sentenced to camps for working in a German police unit. The other two – for treason to the motherland by servicemen, ”the message says.

On the initiation of a case under the article on the rehabilitation of Nazism against the employees of Memorial on March 4 reported TASS. The human rights organization did not confirm this information at the time. According to the source of the agency, the basis for initiating the case was the suspicion that the organization included in the lists of repressed people “who collaborated with the fascist invaders during the Great Patriotic War.”

“Memorial” and “International Memorial” were liquidated by the Supreme Court of Russia on the claims of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office on December 29 and 28, 2022, respectively. The prosecution alleges that the organization concealed “the fact of performing the function of a foreign agent.” Memorial’s employees did not acknowledge the claims of the Prosecutor General’s Office and insisted that there were no legal grounds for liquidating the company.

Milena Kostereva