Memorial was co-winner of 2022 Peace Prize for its work in documenting human rights abuses in Russia.
Printed On 8 Apr 2026
The committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize has condemned makes an attempt by Moscow to designate the human rights group and Peace Prize laureate Memorial as an “extremist organisation”.
The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday that it was “deeply alarmed by the Russian authorities’ newest makes an attempt to destroy Memorial – a co-recipient of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize – by searching for to designate [it] as an extremist organisation”.
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The assertion was issued as Russia’s Supreme Court docket is predicted to look at a petition from the Ministry of Justice on Thursday so as to add Memorial to Russia’s listing of “undesirable” entities.
The designation would ban the organisation from working in Russia, with these affiliated with it might resist 4 years in jail and fines.
Memorial has already been declared a “international agent”, and the Supreme Court docket ordered it dissolved in Russia on the finish of 2021.
Frydnes pressured that if the newest petition by the Justice Ministry is upheld, “all actions of Memorial might be criminalised. Anybody participating in, or funding, Memorial’s work – and even sharing its printed supplies – will danger imprisonment.”
“To designate such an organisation as extremist is an affront to the elemental values of human dignity and freedom of expression,” he added.
The committee referred to as “on the Russian authorities to instantly withdraw this declare and to stop all harassment of Memorial and its members”.
Memorial received the Nobel Peace Prize with the Ukrainian human rights organisation Centre for Civil Liberties and Ales Bialiatski, who has labored to advertise democracy and human rights in Belarus. Memorial, established in 1987, focuses on documenting human rights abuses in Russia.
Earlier than it was banned in Russia, Memorial shaped a community of about 50 organisations throughout Russia and out of doors its borders. A few of its constituents primarily based in Germany, France and Italy proceed to function.
A number of Russian Memorial leaders have been subjected to felony proceedings – together with Oleg Orlov, who was freed in a prisoner alternate in 2024 after being imprisoned for talking out in opposition to the Ukraine warfare – at the moment are working outdoors Russia to proceed documenting human rights abuses.
