Russia's Supreme Court Labels Memorial Human Rights Group as 'Extremist'

Russia's Supreme Court on April 9 designated Memorial, the country's leading human rights organization founded in 1987, as an extremist group in a closed hearing that political scientists describe as marking a new level of repression. Memorial, which won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize and maintains tens of thousands of documents about Soviet-era repression including gulag histories, now faces having its archives claimed as extremist property. The ruling follows years of escalating persecution including Memorial's 2014 foreign agent listing, 2021 dissolution order, and the 2023 sentencing of staff member Oleg Orlov to prison for discrediting the army. Memorial announced it must suspend all Russian activities and warned supporters against donations or social media associations, while the European Union condemned the decision as politically motivated and the Norwegian Nobel Committee called it an affront to human dignity and freedom of expression.

Supreme Court ruling and international condemnation

• ▪The Nobel Committee awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize to Memorial
• ▪Russia's Supreme Court announced on April 9 that the activities of Memorial human rights organization were banned throughout the country
• ▪Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes said designating Memorial as extremist was an affront to the fundamental values of human dignity and freedom of expression
• ▪The Russian Supreme Court classified the International Public Movement Memorial as extremist
• ▪The European Union delegation to Russia described the Supreme Court ruling on Memorial as a politically motivated blow to civil society in Russia
• ▪Media representatives and diplomats from Germany, Sweden, the Czech Republic and France were only allowed to attend the announcement of the ruling on Memorial
• ▪The Supreme Court hearing on Memorial took place behind closed doors and was treated as top secret

Memorial's history and documentation of Soviet repression

• ▪Memorial international society was founded in 1987

Escalating persecution and government strategy to suppress historical memory

• ▪Memorial was accused of depicting a false image of the Soviet Union
• ▪Memorial co-founding member Irina Sherbakova said the persecution of Memorial is part of the Russian government's overall strategy
• ▪In 2023, the head of the Perm NGO Center of Historical Memory, Aleksandr Chernyshov, was arrested after allegedly trying to smuggle archival documents from Russia to Germany
• ▪In 2021, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Memorial International for repeated and gross violations of Russia's foreign agent laws
• ▪In March 2023, the homes and offices of nine Memorial staff members were subjected to searches
• ▪The Russian Justice Ministry placed Memorial on a list of foreign agents in 2014
• ▪Oleg Orlov was released as part of a prisoner exchange in August 2024 and has since been living in Germany
• ▪The Last Address memorial project's commemorative plaques have been systematically removed
• ▪Memorial staff member Oleg Orlov was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for discrediting the army
• ▪The Moscow-based Gulag History Museum was closed in 2024

Impact on civil society and Memorial's future operations

• ▪Russian political scientist Aleksandr Kynev wrote that the persecution of Memorial marked a new level of repression in Russia
• ▪Human rights activist Anna Karetnikova said the initiative to persecute Memorial went back to the Russian Federal Security Service