<p>Russia's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the closure of Memorial, the country's most prominent rights group, which chronicled Stalin-era purges and symbolised post-Soviet democratisation.</p>.<p>Judge Alla Nazarova ordered the closure of Memorial International, the organisation's central structure, and its regional branches for failing to mark all of its publications with a label of "foreign agent" as required by law.</p>.<p>The "foreign agent" legislation, which carries Stalin-era connotations, brands organisations receiving funds from overseas as acting against Russia's interests.</p>.<p>"Disgrace! Disgrace!" some supporters shouted in court after the ruling.</p>.<p>Prosecutors also accused Memorial International of denigrating the memory of the Soviet Union and its victories and rehabilitating "Nazi criminals".</p>.<p>During Tuesday's hearing a prosecutor said Memorial "creates a false image of the USSR as a terrorist state and denigrates the memory of World War II".</p>.<p>The court decision is the hardest blow yet to the organisation founded in 1989 by Soviet dissidents including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov.</p>.<p>Lawyer Maria Eismont said the shutdown was a "very bad sign" but added that Memorial would appeal and press ahead with its work.</p>.<p>"This is not the end," she told reporters.</p>.<p>Dozens of supporters gathered outside the courthouse in freezing temperatures and several people were detained. After the ruling, police demanded that members of the public and journalists disperse.</p>.<p>Memorial is a loose structure of locally registered organisations, with Memorial International maintaining the network's extensive archives in Moscow and coordinating its work.</p>.<p>The group has spent years cataloguing atrocities committed in the Soviet Union, especially in the notorious network of prison camps, the Gulag.</p>.<p>The move against Memorial caps a year that has seen authorities jail President Vladimir Putin's top critic Alexei Navalny, outlaw his organisations and crack down on independent media and rights groups.</p>.<p>But the ban against Memorial International stands out even in the current climate and would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.</p>.<p>Supporters say its closure signals the end of an era in Russia's post-Soviet democratisation process, which began 30 years ago this month.</p>.<p>Supporter Maria Biryukova said Russia needed Memorial to make sure the country did not repeat mistakes of the past.</p>.<p>"Memorial tells the truth, in no way does it denigrate the country," she told AFP.</p>.<p>Another supporter, author Leonid Bakhnov, whose grandfather was executed at the peak of Stalin-era purges in 1937, said the group's closure was "a tragedy for Russia".</p>.<p>"What a wonderful New Year they arranged for us," he said bitterly.</p>.<p>Memorial's founders have denied any serious violations, saying that only an insignificant number of documents may have been missing the tag.</p>.<p>Tuesday's hearing was one of two cases brought against the group. Prosecutors have also demanded a court close Memorial's Human Rights Centre, accusing it of condoning "terrorism and extremism" in addition to breaches of the "foreign agent" legislation.</p>.<p>On Wednesday, a Moscow court will hold a new hearing in that case.</p>.<p>Memorial has campaigned for the rights of political prisoners, migrants and other marginalised groups, and highlighted abuses especially in the turbulent North Caucasus region that includes Chechnya.</p>.<p>The group has been in the crosshairs of the authorities for years and Putin has accused it of advocating for "terrorist and extremist organisations".</p>.<p>On Monday, a court in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk increased a prison sentence for the head of Memorial in Karelia, Yury Dmitriyev, to a total of 15 years.</p>.<p>His supporters say he is being punished for his work locating mass graves of people killed under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.</p>.<p>Sentenced last year to 13 years in prison on what his supporters say were fabricated child sex charges, the 65-year-old will now spend two additional years in prison.</p>.<p>On Tuesday, Navalny's team said the authorities had detained the heads of his now-dismantled offices in the Siberian regions of Irkutsk and Tomsk, Zakhar Sarapulov and Ksenia Fadeyeva, who is also a local lawmaker.</p>.<p><strong>Watch latest videos by DH here:</strong></p>
<p>Russia's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the closure of Memorial, the country's most prominent rights group, which chronicled Stalin-era purges and symbolised post-Soviet democratisation.</p>.<p>Judge Alla Nazarova ordered the closure of Memorial International, the organisation's central structure, and its regional branches for failing to mark all of its publications with a label of "foreign agent" as required by law.</p>.<p>The "foreign agent" legislation, which carries Stalin-era connotations, brands organisations receiving funds from overseas as acting against Russia's interests.</p>.<p>"Disgrace! Disgrace!" some supporters shouted in court after the ruling.</p>.<p>Prosecutors also accused Memorial International of denigrating the memory of the Soviet Union and its victories and rehabilitating "Nazi criminals".</p>.<p>During Tuesday's hearing a prosecutor said Memorial "creates a false image of the USSR as a terrorist state and denigrates the memory of World War II".</p>.<p>The court decision is the hardest blow yet to the organisation founded in 1989 by Soviet dissidents including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov.</p>.<p>Lawyer Maria Eismont said the shutdown was a "very bad sign" but added that Memorial would appeal and press ahead with its work.</p>.<p>"This is not the end," she told reporters.</p>.<p>Dozens of supporters gathered outside the courthouse in freezing temperatures and several people were detained. After the ruling, police demanded that members of the public and journalists disperse.</p>.<p>Memorial is a loose structure of locally registered organisations, with Memorial International maintaining the network's extensive archives in Moscow and coordinating its work.</p>.<p>The group has spent years cataloguing atrocities committed in the Soviet Union, especially in the notorious network of prison camps, the Gulag.</p>.<p>The move against Memorial caps a year that has seen authorities jail President Vladimir Putin's top critic Alexei Navalny, outlaw his organisations and crack down on independent media and rights groups.</p>.<p>But the ban against Memorial International stands out even in the current climate and would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.</p>.<p>Supporters say its closure signals the end of an era in Russia's post-Soviet democratisation process, which began 30 years ago this month.</p>.<p>Supporter Maria Biryukova said Russia needed Memorial to make sure the country did not repeat mistakes of the past.</p>.<p>"Memorial tells the truth, in no way does it denigrate the country," she told AFP.</p>.<p>Another supporter, author Leonid Bakhnov, whose grandfather was executed at the peak of Stalin-era purges in 1937, said the group's closure was "a tragedy for Russia".</p>.<p>"What a wonderful New Year they arranged for us," he said bitterly.</p>.<p>Memorial's founders have denied any serious violations, saying that only an insignificant number of documents may have been missing the tag.</p>.<p>Tuesday's hearing was one of two cases brought against the group. Prosecutors have also demanded a court close Memorial's Human Rights Centre, accusing it of condoning "terrorism and extremism" in addition to breaches of the "foreign agent" legislation.</p>.<p>On Wednesday, a Moscow court will hold a new hearing in that case.</p>.<p>Memorial has campaigned for the rights of political prisoners, migrants and other marginalised groups, and highlighted abuses especially in the turbulent North Caucasus region that includes Chechnya.</p>.<p>The group has been in the crosshairs of the authorities for years and Putin has accused it of advocating for "terrorist and extremist organisations".</p>.<p>On Monday, a court in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk increased a prison sentence for the head of Memorial in Karelia, Yury Dmitriyev, to a total of 15 years.</p>.<p>His supporters say he is being punished for his work locating mass graves of people killed under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.</p>.<p>Sentenced last year to 13 years in prison on what his supporters say were fabricated child sex charges, the 65-year-old will now spend two additional years in prison.</p>.<p>On Tuesday, Navalny's team said the authorities had detained the heads of his now-dismantled offices in the Siberian regions of Irkutsk and Tomsk, Zakhar Sarapulov and Ksenia Fadeyeva, who is also a local lawmaker.</p>.<p><strong>Watch latest videos by DH here:</strong></p>