WASHINGTON— Following new charges brought by the Russian Federation against Memorial, one of Russia’s most respected human rights organizations, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (MD), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, issued the following statement:
“This latest effort by Moscow to ‘liquidate’ the human rights organization Memorial is an obvious attempt to silence the voice of its own conscience. Just over a week ago, representatives of Memorial participated in the OSCE’s annual human rights meeting in Warsaw, speaking out against escalating threats against civil society. It is very troubling that an organization founded by Andrei Sakharov to address the crimes of the Stalinist era now has become the target of a new wave of repression.”
In the past, Russia has sought to starve many non-governmental organizations of the resources necessary to function, hobbling the work of other human rights NGOs like the Moscow Helsinki Group; the new charges against Memorial suggests an escalation of such anti-civil society tactics. In 2009, Natalia Estemirova, head of Memorial’s office in Chechnya, was kidnapped and murdered. Memorial recently condemned Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
