The decision to liquidate the Moscow Helsinki Group was approved

The decision to liquidate the oldest human rights organization in Russia – the Moscow Helsinki Group – entered into force. On Thursday evening, the first appellate court of general jurisdiction rejected the claim of the Moscow Helsinki Group and approved the decision of the lower Moscow City Court to liquidate the organization. This was reported by the Telegram channel of the “For Human Rights” movement.

The Ministry of Justice filed a claim for the liquidation of MHG, the court of first instance satisfied it in January. According to the department, the organization made “gross” and “irreparable” mistakes related to the fact that its employees participated in a number of events outside of Moscow, while MHH is a Moscow regional organization. The lawyers pointed out that the main activity of the organization is conducted in Moscow, and the liquidation of the organization is a disproportionate reaction to violations, even if they were. Human rights activists believe that the decision to liquidate the organization was made for political reasons.

On the eve of the decision to reject the Moscow Helsinki Group’s appeal – on April 26 – the MHG named the laureates of the annual award in the field of human rights protection. This is reported by “Novaya Gazeta”.

In the nomination “For courage shown in the protection of human rights” – the prize was awarded to Dmitry Ivanov, the creator of the Telegram channel “Protestny MSU”, who was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for an article about so-called fakes about the army. Director Vitaliy Mansky, human rights defenders Elena Nemyrovskaya, Olga Sadovskaya and Pavel Chikov, activist Sarkis Darbynyan, journalist Kateryna Gordeeva, one of the founders of the “Memorial” society Yan Rachinsky, lawyer Tatyana Okushko and organizer of the Open Space sites Alexander Krylenkova were also laureates. The announcement of the laureates took place in one of the Moscow cafes.

• MHH was founded by human rights defenders and dissidents in the USSR under Leonid Brezhnev. The creation was announced on May 12, 1976 at a press conference held in the apartment of academician Andrei Sakharov. The first members of the group included Yuri Orlov, Lyudmila Alekseeva, Mikhail Bernstam, Elena Bonner, Alexander Ginzburg, Petr Grigorenko, Alexander Korchak, Malva Landa, Anatoly Marchenko, Vitaly Rubin, Anatoly Shcharansky.
• The goal of the organization was to monitor the observance of human rights in the USSR in accordance with the Helsinki Agreements. From the moment of its foundation, the MHG was subjected to constant persecution and pressure, its members were arrested, expelled from the country, and retained their Soviet citizenship. The organization re-established an office in Moscow in 1989, during perestroika. From 1996 until her death in 2018, the organization was headed by human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseeva.
• The organization aims to promote the observance of human rights and the building of democracy in Russia. “We are convinced that Russia will be a democratic state, where laws are respected, where a person, his rights and dignity are recognized as the highest value,” says its website, which was blocked in February by the decision of the Russian authorities.
• In December 2021, the Moscow City Court liquidated the second oldest human rights group in Russia – Memorial Society and its human rights center. The decision was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2022 and was criticized by international non-governmental organizations, human rights groups and Nobel laureates.