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Memorial, a Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Has Been Targeted by Putin in Russia


Memorial, a human rights organization outlawed by the Kremlin last year, has spent decades trying to force Russia to come to terms with its authoritarian past – and in the process, unraveling The crimes of the present are more and more repressive.

The organization is “based on the view that confronting past crimes is essential to preventing new ones,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in its statement naming Memorial a fighter. Winner of this year’s Peace Prize, along with a defender of human rights in Belarus and rights groups in Ukraine.

Co-founded by Andrei D. Sakharov, physicist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Memorial grew out of a popular movement during the late Soviet years to commemorate the victims of Stalin’s terror. It documents the Gulag and the torture chambers of the KGB by publishing history books, educating students, organizing exhibitions, and even offering historical walks in central Moscow to save money. reveals the horrors of Russia’s past that are hidden behind the city’s pristine facades.

But with the rise of President Vladimir V. Putin, telling the truth about Russia’s history has become a dangerous business, and revealing the Kremlin’s historical crimes could be treason.

The president of Memorial’s branch in the northern republic of Karelia discovered a killing field where thousands had perished at the hands of Stalin’s secret police. In 2020, historian Yuri Dmitriev was found guilty of sexual abuse considered by many to be retaliation for his work; He is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence.

Late last year, the Kremlin closed the Monument. Its Center for Human Rights – a branch focused on today’s crime – “justifies terrorist activities”, Moscow prosecutors said. While some Memorial employees have left the country, others remain in Russia and are fighting in court to keep their offices in central Moscow from being occupied by the government. A hearing in that case took place on Friday.

Following the announcement of the Nobel Prize on Friday, some Russian observers noted that Memorial received the award on an auspicious date: Putin’s 70th birthday and the 16th anniversary of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist documented his crimes. .Putin’s rule.

“It is time for the Court of History,” said Lev Shlosberg, a veteran Russian opposition figure, Written on Facebook about the symbolism of the Nobel Prize period. “But there are decisions that anticipate the court’s ruling.”

The memorial’s employees are scheduled to hold a news conference on Friday outside the Moscow court, where a hearing on the confiscation of their offices is taking place. Their initial reaction to winning the Nobel Peace Prize, posted to Instagram: “We don’t have a word at the moment.”

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