The Russian nuclear physicist and regime critic Andrey Sakharov co-founded the organization Memorial during the time of repression in the Soviet Union. Memorial was a leader in, among other things, mapping, collecting and preserving testimonies of abuses by the Soviet state, a work that continued in Russia.
Memorial received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
But the organization was labeled a “foreign agent,” and a Russian court banned it entirely in late 2021.
However, the work to review developments in Russia has continued in the organization Sakharov Center. The organization was founded in 1996 in Sakharov’s name, and has held conferences and exhibitions.
But on Friday, it too was banned by a court, following an order from the Russian Ministry of Justice. According to the decision of the Moscow City Court, the Sakharov Center has held “illegal conferences”.
The organization was forced out of its premises back in April, but tried to maintain some activity.
In January, the respected organization Moscow’s Helsinki Group, which was the country’s oldest functioning human rights group, was banned and closed.
Almost all human rights groups in Russia have thus been closed and most active regime critics active in the country have been imprisoned.