Memorial

January, February, March …

/ editors (JC)

When will the verdict in the Dmitriev case come into force? (and the rulings about International Memorial and the Memorial Human Rights Centre)

In posts issued, respectively, on 12 January (“What Next?” [R]) and 14 January 2022 (“What we are doing” [R]), the two Memorial organisations described what lies ahead and how they are coping at present. In the first the Memorial legal team stated that the clock starts ticking once the ruling has been received in written form. Then the accused and their attorneys have a calendar month in which to appeal.

Meanwhile, the European Court in Strasbourg issued an “interim measure” on 29 December 2021 (see text below).

Text of the 29 December 2021 ECtHR interim measure

*

As concerns DMITRIEV his attorney has already submitted an appeal on 27 December 2021, the day of the verdict. This was because the proceedings at the third trial, unlike its two predecessors, were clearly biased in favour of the prosecution. For example, not one of the petitions submitted by Victor Anufriev was accepted.

Sergei Prudovsky vs. the FSB

/ editors (JC)

Whilst we wait for the Supreme Court to continue its hearing of the case against the Memorial Society, and to decide whether it will make any response to Yury DMITRIEV’s appeal (19 October 2021), the court will today consider the case brought against the FSB by researcher Sergei Prudovsky.

Thwarted by the Tula and Ivanovo Region departments of the FSB in his pursuit of access to files and names from 80 years ago, Prudovsky is demanding a clear response to two questions:

  • Does the FSB consider itself the successor to the Stalin-era NKVD?
  • Can it lawfully conceal the identity of those NKVD officers who carried out the Great Terror in 1937-1938?

He will be supported in court by Memorial lawyer Marina Agaltsova.

Sergei B. Prudovsky and Memorial Society casefiles

Exactly a year ago the judicial board of the First Appeal Court (Central Region) ruled that the rank, title, surname and signatures of the Moscow Region’s NKVD officers at the time were a State Secret. This was specifically in reference to officers Yakubovich, Sorokin and Wolfson who had fabricated criminal charges, and used unlawful means (application of force and brutality) in the conduct of their investigations. They were subsequently convicted of such behaviour and had not since been rehabilitated.

I wonder, Prudovsky added then: could this decision itself be qualified under Article 316 of the RF Criminal Code, “Concealment of a crime”?

JC

Legal Action to Shut Down Memorial throughout Russia

/ editors (JC)

Statement by the board of International Memorial

“On 11 November 2021 at about 4:30 pm we were notified by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation that the Prosecutor General’s office has filed a lawsuit requesting the International Memorial be closed down for alleged systematic violations of the ‘foreign agents’ act (reference being made to failure to append the ‘foreign agent’ disclaimer to this organisation’s materials). The court hearing is scheduled to take place on 25 November.

“We have repeatedly stated that the act in question has been introduced with the view to eradicating independent organisations and insisted that it should be revoked. However, while the law is still in force we are obliged to follow its requirements.

“We believe that there are no legal grounds for the Memorial to be dismantled.

“This is a political decision aimed at exterminating the Memorial Society, the organisation dealing with history of political repression and human rights defence.”

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RF Supreme Court to re-examine Dmitriev case

/ editors (JC)

In late June this year Yury DMITRIEV submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. On 30 June it was officially registered by the court.

Yury Dmitriev at home in 2018, after a year in Remand Centre [SIZO] No. 1 (photo, Anna Artyemeva)

On 31 August, the last day on which such a complaint may be re-examined in accordance with existing legislation (Criminal-Procedural Code, Article 401.10, pt 4), the Supreme Court announced via its website that it had requested the case materials and previous rulings in order to carry out such a re-examination.

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An appeal to the European Court of Human Rights

/ editors (JC)

Lawyers from Memorial have submitted an appeal to the court in Strasbourg, asserting that the judicial proceedings in the DMITRIEV case have violated four articles of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

The prosecution of Yury Dmitriev, head of Memorial in Karelia, is unusual in several respects.

One, the investigation and hearings have already lasted four years. The case has stirred public interest not only in Russia but also abroad, making it one of the most discussed trials of recent years.

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