LONDON, April 9 (Reuters) - Russia's Supreme Court designated human rights group Memorial as an "extremist" movement on Thursday, a move the group said marked a new phase of oppression in the country.
The ruling - the latest in a sweeping, years-long crackdown on free speech in Russia - provides a new legal mechanism for authorities to prosecute anyone who contributes to the work of the Nobel Prize-winning organisation, donates to it or shares material that it publishes.
After the closed-door hearing, the Supreme Court said Memorial's activities within Russia were banned with immediate effect.
They "are clearly anti-Russian in nature and are aimed at destroying the basic foundations of Russian statehood, violating its territorial integrity, and eroding historical, cultural, spiritual, and moral values," it said in a statement.
Memorial, whose own lawyer was not allowed to attend the hearing, condemned the ruling and vowed to continue its work from outside Russia.
"This unlawful decision marks a new stage of political pressure on Russian civil society," it said in a statement.
In a separate development on Thursday, Russia's best-known independent news outlet, Novaya Gazeta, said masked security officers were searching its Moscow office. State media said the investigation was into illegal use of personal data.
MEMORIAL CHARTS RIGHTS ABUSES FROM STALIN TO THE PRESENT
Memorial was founded in the late 1980s to document political repression in the Soviet Union. It has defended freedom of speech and recorded human rights abuses from the time of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin to the present.
In December 2021, less than two months before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the authorities banned two of Memorial's flagship organisations, alleging that their work had "justified terrorism and extremism" - charges the group called absurd.
Memorial has continued to operate, however, mostly from outside Russia, and provide support to what it says are more than 1,500 political prisoners in the country. The Kremlin says Russia is rightly enforcing its laws against people who commit crimes.
Thursday's ruling is directed against "the international public movement Memorial". Memorial said that no such organisation exists and that the vague designation was deliberately designed to enable prosecutions of anyone speaking out on human rights or historical crimes.
It said the effort would not succeed, and "Memorial will outlive the Putin regime and will be able to openly return to Russia" one day.
It has warned supporters within Russia not to donate money or show support for its activities online after the ruling to avoid attracting the attention of the authorities.
WINNER OF 2022 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
Memorial shared the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski and the Ukrainian Centre for Civil Liberties, an award widely regarded as a condemnation of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine earlier that year.
Memorial leader Oleg Orlov was sentenced to prison in 2024 for "discrediting the armed forces" by protesting against the war in Ukraine and accusing President Vladimir Putin of leading a descent into fascism. He was freed later that year in a major prisoner swap agreed between the U.S.and Russia.
Anticipating Thursday's court ruling, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Wednesday it was alarmed by the application from Russia's justice ministry to label Memorial as "extremist".
"If the claim is upheld, all activities of Memorial will be criminalised. Anyone taking part in, or funding, Memorial’s work — or even sharing its published materials — will risk imprisonment," it said in a statement.
(Reporting by Alessandra Prentice and Mark TrevelyanEditing by Keith Weir)
