“Of course, it is very difficult,” Elena Zhemkova told AFP in an interview, stressing though that there had never been any question about whether or not to carry on working. READ:
Moscow’s crackdown on Memorial has only intensified since the rights group won the Nobel Peace Prize last month, but its executive director says members are pushing on despite the dangers.
Zhemkova said the announcement on October 7 honoring the embattled organization she co-founded in 1989 with Andrei Sakharov – himself the 1975 Peace Prize laureate – had come as a complete surprise.The 61-year-old described riding in a taxi on her way to open an exhibition when a colleague called and said something had happened and told her to “look at the news.”
Last December, the Russian Supreme Court ordered Memorial dissolved, and just hours after the Nobel Committee’s announcement on October 7, a Moscow court ordered the seizure of its headquarters. But Zhemkova pointed out that the marathon reading of the names of those killed under Stalin’s regime had still taken place across 22 countries and 77 cities.Inside Russia as well, she said Memorial was continuing to open exhibitions, organize excursions and “defend people’s rights in court”.Zhemkova, who was in Geneva to give the annual Kofi Annan Peace Address, acknowledged that she and other members of Memorial fear for their safety in Russia.
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‘Small courageous steps’ Memorial steadfast in opposing oppression in Russia“Of course, it is very difficult,” Elena Zhemkova told AFP in an interview, stressing though that there had never been any question about whether or not to carry on working. READ:
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