UN appalled by Russian ban on Nobel-winning rights group

UN rights chief Volker Turk said Friday he was appalled by Russia's ban on the Nobel Prize-winning human rights group Memorial and urged Moscow to annul the decision immediately.

Russia banned Memorial and raided the offices of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta on Thursday, in fresh blows to already diminished civil liberties in the country.

"I am appalled by the Russian authorities' designation of Memorial, one of the oldest and most prominent human rights organisations in the country, as an 'extremist' organisation -- effectively criminalising critical human rights work," Turk said in a statement.

"This decision is part of a broader, unsettling pattern in which the Russian authorities are applying laws intended to combat extremism to prosecute individuals or organisations under the guise that they are associated with vaguely defined extremist 'movements' or groups."

Memorial and Novaya Gazeta, both founded around the collapse of the Soviet Union, are Russia's two most reputable and renowned organisations reporting and documenting human rights abuses.

Since sending troops against neighbouring Ukraine four years ago, the Kremlin has not only suppressed opposition to the war, but also launched a wider crackdown on  dissent, something unseen since Soviet times.

The raid on Novaya Gazeta, and the detention of one of the paper's top investigative reporters, "are also indicative of this continuing clampdown on civic space, freedom of expression and association, and repression targeting any individuals or groups perceived to be opposed to the government", said Turk.

He called on the Russian authorities to ensure compliance with their obligations under international human rights law.

"I urge them to immediately annul the latest decision on Memorial and ensure that no individual is subjected to criminal or administrative liability for the exercise of their fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression and peaceful association," he said.

Memorial was founded in the late 1980s to document victims of Soviet-era political repression during which millions of people perished in the Gulag penal system. It was a joint-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.

Novaya Gazeta, established in 1993, was for years Russia's leading independent outlet and was targeted heavily for its critical reporting and investigations into rights violations and corruption.