MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. The Russian Supreme Court handed down a verdict to dissolve the International Memorial historical educational society (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia) on Tuesday, a TASS correspondent reported.
"[I hereby decree] to satisfy the lawsuit by the Prosecutor General’s office to dissolve the International Memorial historical educational society," judge Alla Nazarova announced.
By the court’s decision, all the divisions of the organization will be liquidated.
The court announced only the resolutory part of the decision, its motives remain unknown. The court’s decision has not yet become effective and may be appealed.
International Memorial plans to appeal the Supreme Court’s decision, lawyer Maria Eismont told TASS on Tuesday.
"We consider the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation that satisfied the lawsuit of the Prosecutor-General’s office illegitimate and unfounded and will appeal it," she said.
According to the attorney, "this is an unfair decision that will harm" the country. "This is a poor sign that our society and our country are moving in the wrong direction," Head of the International Memorial Jan Rachinsky said, commenting on the court’s decision.
The Prosecutor-General’s office filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court for closing down the International Memorial organization, recognized as a foreign agent non-profit in Russia for violating the law on foreign agents. Simultaneously, the Moscow Prosecutor’s office filed a similar suit against the Russian Memorial Human Rights Center.
International Memorial was put on the list of foreign agent non-profits in 2016. In recent years, the group has been repeatedly fined by courts for breaching the law on foreign agents. The organization stressed that it did not violate the law on foreign agents.