-----Original Message-----
From: On all aspects of Russia and the FSU
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert Chandler
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 1:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: [SEELANGS] RIC 'Memorial', St Petersburg
Dear Colleagues,
I am forwarding a letter from a UK graduate student concerning the very
worrying news of yesterday's raid on the St Petersburg Research and
Information Centre 'Memorial'.
I also have copies of the search protocol and letter, if anybody would like
to see them.
best wishes,
Sarah
Dr Sarah Young
Lecturer in Russian
SSEES, UCL
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
[log in to unmask]
---------------------------- Original Message
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Subject: RIC Memorial, St Petersburg
From: "Josephine Vonzitzewitz"
<[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, December 5, 2008 11:07 am
To: [log in to unmask]
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Dear colleagues,
I'm sure some of you have heard the news about people from the St Petersburg
prokuratura forcing their way into the office of the Research and
Information Centre "Memorial" yesterday, searching the premises,
intimidating staff, denying the organisation's lawyer access and
confiscating hard drives, CD-discs, documents etc under the pretext of
investigating a case of alleged "extremism" in an obscure newspaper article
published one and a half years ago.
"Memorial" has never had any links to the newspaper in question, "Novyi
Peterburg".
The search was timed to coincide with the absence of the director, Irina
Flige. The confiscated hard drives contain, among other things, databases
with informations on thousands of Leningrad victims of repression under
Stalin and the entire collection of data for the "Virtual Gulag Museum"
(www.gulagmuseum.org). The loss of this data would be catastrophic, not just
for the organisation itself, but also for generations of researchers into
this subject matter, Russian and foreign.
I am deeply concerned about this development, not least because I have been
working with "Memorial" since 2003 and am very involved with the "Virtual
Gulag Museum". The people whose work has been undermined in this way are
close friends of mine.
Irina Flige has sent me copies of the search protocol - which the secretary
of "Memmorial" refused to sign as she had not been allowed to compile a list
of the information that was taken away. I am also attaching the letter that
was sent to the Russian human rights ombudsman (file no 18), who is, it
seems, currently looking into the matter. Further information, including a
copy of the search warrant, which the man commanding the action seems to
have issued to himself, and a link to the newspaper article in question can
be found on http://lev-k.livejournal.com/16140.html?mode=reply
Lev Krylenkov is Irina Flige's son-in-law and IT man at "Memorial".
Information has also been posted on hro.org and polit.ru
Feel free to circulate this information. It might be worth to write a
petition similar to the ones written when the European University was
threatened with closure. I'd be grateful for ideas.
Best wishes,
Josie von Zitzewitz
University of Oxford
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