{{Russia’s oldest human rights group went to court on Friday to try to stop state prosecutors forcing it to register as a “foreign agent” under a law it says is intended by President Vladimir Putin to silence dissent.}}<\/p>\n
Memorial, which has fought political repression since Soviet times, refuses to comply with the law which critics describe as a crude attempt to reassert Putin’s authority after tens of thousands called for him to quit during protests last year.<\/p>\n
The law obliges foreign-funded non-governmental organizations involved in “political activities” to operate under a label which has echoes of the Cold War and overtones of treason. Memorial says it also helps the state tighten controls.<\/p>\n
“We’re not sitting and waiting. We’re staging a counter-attack,” Memorial’s head, Alexander Cherkasov, said. “They’re taking us back to the ideas of the (Soviet) past. It’s a sign of madness.”<\/p>\n
Inspired by Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov and five others’ wish to create a monument to remember the victims of dictator Josef Stalin’s repression, Memorial started work in 1987 as the Soviet Union opened up under Mikhail Gorbachev.<\/p>\n
Its initial goal was to document the Communist totalitarian past, but it developed quickly into a human rights organization and criticized the detention of anti-Putin protesters last year at a rally that turned violent.<\/p>\n
{reuters}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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