March 22 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The NGO Memorial, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, has published this Wednesday a series of photographs that show the disorder caused by the latest searches carried out by the authorities at its headquarters in Moscow, which have already been condemned by NGOs as Amnesty International (AI).
“We still do not know exactly what was taken from the office, because the lawyers were not allowed to search the office,” he denounced on his official Telegram profile, adding that they do have proof of the seizure of all their computers.
On the eve, Russian police also raided the homes of at least ten employees and their families, including historian Nikita Petrov and Ian Rachinski, chairman of Memorial’s board of directors. The operation resulted in confiscated equipment and items bearing the NGO logo.
Other prominent members such as Oleg Orlov were released on bail the day before after being interrogated and criminal proceedings opened against him for “discrediting the Russian Army,” according to the Intefax news agency.
According to the court orders, the searches are being carried out before an investigation opened at the beginning of March against the members of the organization for “rehabilitation of Nazism”, alleging that among the ranks of Memorial there are members who collaborated with the Nazis. during world war II.
In this sense, Amnesty International (AI) has affirmed this Wednesday in a statement that the Russian authorities “continue their witch hunt against activists and defenders of Human Rights”, alleging that these facts are “absurd”.
“The Kremlin must urgently end its shameful crackdown on activists and those working to ensure that Joseph Stalin’s brutality is remembered. The work done by Memorial to document the past, educate youth, and commemorate must continue. the history of political repression”, said the director of AI in Russia, Natalia Zviaguina.
Likewise, he has affirmed that the Russian authorities perceive the work of the NGO as “a threat to their power” in the defense of Human Rights “in an increasingly repressive Russia” in the context of the war in Ukraine.
For its part, the Norwegian Committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize each year has echoed the arrests and raids on its official Twitter profile, recalling the arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the forced deportation of Ukrainian children in the framework of the Ukrainian war.
