33,600 words of support. Trial for the destruction of Memorial HRC* is underway in Moscow

Today, on November 23, the Moscow City Court began a trial on the liquidation of the Memorial Human Rights Center*. And tomorrow, Wednesday, November 24, the Russian Supreme Court will consider the request of the Prosecutor General's Office to destroy the International Memorial and its structural divisions.

Meanwhile, the campaign to protect the oldest human rights society in the country continues. More than 100,000 people have already signed a petition against the closure of Memorial. About a thousand figures of Russian culture and science sent letters to the Prosecutor General's Office demanding an end to the persecution of Memorial, supported these demands by human rights organizations around the world, as well as communities of Russians living abroad.

Employees of another human rights organization, the Sakharov Center* in Moscow, also came forward on the eve of the trial with their own initiative:

“We realize that we cannot be sure of the fairness of this court. We are well aware of what all this means, and we are under no illusions. But history allows us not to give up and suggests that sometimes publicity - spoken aloud and loudly the truth - can help. In addition, we at the Sakharov Center know from our own experience how important it is to feel when a disaster strikes.

We have recorded a video. If we assume that a person speaks an average of 120 words per minute, then we get 33,600 words in support of Memorial. 74 human rights activists, political analysts, sociologists, historians, journalists, public figures and activists - all those with whom we have been working together for many years and we can confidently call whom (and Memorial) like-minded people - talk about why Memorial is important for the whole country, and its closure is tantamount to a national disaster. We want this recording to be seen by as many people as possible, so we give full access to it and invite all friendly media outlets to distribute this video (or parts of it) without our permission. Friends - Memorials, in these dark days we are with you. There will be dawn..."

* Organizations recognized as foreign agents in the Russian Federation

* Memorial Human Rights Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of human rights. On July 21, 2014, the Ministry of Justice entered Memorial HRC into the register of NGOs performing the functions of inagent.