Russia’s Supreme Court has ordered the closure of International Memorial, Russia’s oldest human rights group. Memorial worked to recover the memory of the millions of innocent people executed, imprisoned or persecuted in the Soviet era. Formally it has been “liquidated” for failing to mark a number of social media posts with its official status as a “foreign agent”. That designation was given in 2016 for receiving funding from abroad. But in court, the prosecutor labelled Memorial a “public threat”, accusing the group of being in the pay of the West to focus attention on Soviet crimes instead of highlighting a “glorious past”. Founded in 1989, Memorial became a symbol of a country opening up to the world – and to itself – as Russia began examining the darkest chapters of its past. Its closure is a stark symbol of how the country has turned back in on itself under President Vladimir Putin, rejecting criticism – even of history – as a hostile act. There were shouts of “shame!” from those in court as the decision was read out. The ruling also shines a light on the rise in repression in modern-day Russia, where Memorial’s own human rights wing now lists more than 400 political prisoners, and independent groups and media are increasingly blacklisted as “foreign agents”. In court, lawyers for Memorial argued that the group’s work was beneficial for the “health of the nation”. They declared Memorial a friend of Russia, not its enemy, and called the case for liquidation absurd and “Orwellian”. (BBC)…[+]