This morning, Russian security forces came with unjustified searches to seven employees and members of their families of the Historical and Educational Society “Memorial”, in particular, to the former chairman of the “Memorial” Human Rights Center, an active member of CivilMPlus Oleg Orlov.

The searches are being carried out as part of the case on the “rehabilitation of Nazism”, the organization is charged with having in its lists of those oppressed during the Soviet era, the names of three persons who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.

The International independent civil society platform CivilMPlus considers such actions illegal. They demonstrate the openly dictatorial nature of Vladimir Putin’s regime, which tries in vain to hide political persecution behind formal legal pretexts.

Memorial is one of the founders of the CivilMPlus platform.

In December 2021, a Russian court liquidated Memorial for violating the law on “foreign agents” and “justifying terrorism and extremism.” “Memorial International” investigated the crimes of the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, sought the rehabilitation of the repressed and assistance to their families, while the “Memorial” Human Rights Center supported political prisoners in Russian prisons, including Ukrainians. Oleg Orlov, who is one of the founders of Memorial, was active in human rights work during the war in Chechnya.

In 2022, Memorial became one of the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2009, Orlov became a laureate of the Andrei Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament “For Freedom of Thought” (2009).