The shuttering of the group Memorial closes a year in which the top Kremlin critic was jailed, his political movement banned and many of his allies forced to flee. Closing the group would increase the risk of “total repression” in Russia, one of Memorial’s lawyers, Maria Eismont, said during the final hearings on Tuesday. The Interfax news agency quoted a lawyer for the group as saying it would appeal, both in Russia and at the European Court of Human Rights. It served as Russia’s main rights group through two wars in Chechnya in the 1990s, and has more recently spoken out against repression of critics under President Vladimir Putin. Last month, prosecutors accused the Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Centre and Memorial International, its parent structure, of violating the foreign agent law.

Source: Ethiopian News December 28, 2021 18:29 UTC