The banned Russian human rights organization, Memorial International, has launched a Swiss branch aimed at supporting the documentation of human rights abuses.
Following its ban by the Russian Supreme Court in 2021, Memorial International relocated to Geneva, and the announcement of the Swiss chapter was made recently.
The Swiss section of Memorial expressed its commitment to reconstructing historical truth and preserving the memory of victims of political oppression under totalitarian regimes. Additionally, it condemned Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine while offering support to the Ukrainian people.
The primary focus of the new chapter will be to translate documented evidence previously uncovered by Memorial Russia and Russian state propaganda. Memorial International, recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize in the previous year, has been dedicated to documenting human rights atrocities during the Soviet era as well as ongoing abuses in Russia.
In 2021, Russia's Supreme Court dissolved Memorial International and its sister organization, Memorial Human Rights Centre, accusing them of distorting history and being "foreign agents." The Swiss foreign ministry denounced this decision as a violation of fundamental freedoms at the time. Photo by fr:Utilisateur:Ork.ch, Wikimedia commons.