European Human Rights Court requests halt on Memorial dissolution

29.12.2021

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has decided to apply 'an interim measure to prevent [the] forced dissolution' of International Memorial and the Memorial Human Rights Centre 'following the adoption of the judgments of 28 and 29 December 2021 by the Supreme Court of Russia and by the Moscow City Court, respectively'.

The ECHR has notified Memorial of its decision to 'indicate to the Government of Russia, under Rule 39, that in the interests of the parties and the proper conduct of the proceedings before it, the enforcement of the decisions to dissolve the applicant organisations should be suspended for a period that would be necessary for the Court to consider the application.'

The announcement has also been posted on the ECHR webpage.

Commenting on the ECHR's decision Memorial HRC senior lawyer Tatyana Glushkova says that interim measures (Rule 39 of the Rules of Court) are normally adopted in cases of persons 'who face an imminent risk of dying or whose health may deteriorate seriously. So far, Rule 39 has only been applied once in the case of an organisation, Rustavi 2, a Georgian TV channel, and it is the first time Rule 39 is applied in the case of an NGO.'