A court in the Russian capital on Friday awarded the building to the Russian state in a procedure criticized as politically motivated. Memorial announced that it would continue its fight for human rights and celebrate the Nobel Prize.
The Nobel Committee also gave the award to Belarusian human rights lawyer Ales Byalyatski and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties.
“We are grateful to the Nobel Committee for this honorable award,” said Memorial in the evening after hours of wrangling with the judiciary for its headquarters. The judiciary had dissolved the organization last year. Despite the pressure from the authorities, the work should continue “under all circumstances” – according to the model of founding father Andrei Sakharov, Memorial said.
The physicist Sakharov, also known as the inventor of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975. “Memorial’s idea and mission are people, history, help for the victims of repression, the fight against state violence,” the statement said. “Memorial – it’s a network, it’s people, it’s a movement.”
Work is ongoing in Russia and Ukraine, as well as in other countries. Like other Russian civil rights organizations, Memorial is currently experiencing “strong pressure”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/.”But it is not possible to ban memory and freedom.” Memorial is thinking of Byalyatsky in Belarus, as well as other political prisoners in the country and colleagues working in Ukraine under the conditions of Russian war of aggression.
The Nobel Peace Prize comes at a time when Russia is waging a war of conquest in Ukraine and is destroying rights and freedoms in its own country. That is a danger to the world.
Memorial co-founder Irina Scherbakova sees the Nobel Peace Prize as an important signal for people in Russia who are critical of the Putin regime and the Ukraine war. The decision of the Nobel Committee is a happy event for many of them, said Scherbakowa on Friday evening in Jena. Because many people in Russia are afraid of massive repression and police violence. But there will be a time after President Putin, stressed Scherbakova. “I very much hope that Russia will eventually find a way out of this moral, political catastrophe and into democracy and freedom.”
The human rights organization Memorial was dissolved last year on orders from the Russian authorities for allegedly violating the law. The organization campaigned for the politically persecuted and prisoners. And she cleared up the crimes of communist tyranny.
The historian and Germanist Scherbakowa holds a visiting professorship at the University of Jena and lives in Weimar. “They showed how the courage of a few can have an impact on the whole world,” emphasized University President Walter Rosenthal. “Thank you for your courage and perseverance.”
According to Scherbakova, many people in Russia have become more realistic about the war in Ukraine in recent months. She campaigned to help conscientious objectors and give them refuge. “Every person fleeing this war is one soldier less in Ukraine.”