Russian Supreme Court puts off hearing of suit against Society Memorial

Russia’s Supreme Court has postponed to January 28 the hearing of the lawsuit of the Ministry of Justice demanding the dissolution of the Russian historical and educational society “Memorial”. Representatives of the Ministry of Justice said they did not have enough time to read the documents for the correction of errors found in the activities of the NGO, according to the website of Radio Liberty’s Russian service.

A correspondent of Radio Ekho Moskvy reports that the Ministry of Justice has withdrawn part of the claims previously put forward in relation to Memorial.

The lawsuit was lodged with the Supreme Court in October. The Ministry of Justice asked to liquidate Memorial in connection with violations of the law, in particular lack of a nationwide organization status. The Ministry of Justice stated that the NGO’s regional offices were created as a separate city organizations, rather than branches of the Moscow-based foundation.

The suit was to be heard on November 13, but the hearing was postponed for more than a month at the request of Memorial in order to amend the NGO’s charter, reform the structure of the organization and correct the claims.