The Russian president's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, has stated that he does not know whether Vladimir Putin has received a letter from the Human Rights Ombudsman, Ella Pamfilova, asking him to support the Russian Memorial society.
As reported by Radio Svoboda, citing the Interfax News Agency, Peskov pointed out that it was the weekend and that the Russian leader was not in Moscow but in Beijing. According to Peskov, Putin would only look at the letter, "if it arrives", after his return from his trip abroad, which is due to end on 16th November.
The previous day, Human Rights Ombudsman Ella Pamfilova sent a letter to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, asking him to recommend that the Ministry of Justice withdraw its legal action to force the liquidation of the Russian Memorial Society. Her letter, which was published on the Human Rights Ombudsman’s website, states that withdrawing this legal action from the Supreme Court would allow the Russian Memorial Society to continue its activities, as it has already met the demands of the Ministry of Justice.
In her letter to the President, Pamfilova states that she does not doubt that there were formal grounds for initiating legal action against the Russian Memorial Society. She adds that the necessary corrections to the society's statutes in order to meet the requirements of legislation are to be made at its forthcoming conference to be held from 20th to 23rd November.
The legal action to liquidate the Russian Memorial Society is currently before the Supreme Court. As Pamfilova indicated, the Ministry of Justice took the organisation to court on the grounds of the wording of the organisation's statutes. The court hearing is scheduled for 13th November 2014.
In her letter, Ella Pamfilova drew the President's attention to the fact that Memorial is one of the oldest Russian NGOs, and that it has made a major contribution to the development of civil society in Russia.