22 March 2023, 10:05
Female employee of the "Caucasian Knot" released after detention at "Memorial" office
During the searches conducted in the office of the "Memorial", an employee of the "Caucasian Knot" was detained; after interrogation she was released.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 21, after searches, employees of the "Memorial" Centre for Human Rights Defence, as well as those of the liquidated "International Memorial"* and the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"* were detained within the case of Nazism rehabilitation. Oleg Orlov, a co-chairman of the of the "Memorial" Centre for Human Rights Defence, has been criminally prosecuted for repeated discrediting the Russian Army. The reason for opening a criminal case against him was his post placed in the social network written for a French outlet, in which experts found signs of discrediting the Russian Army. Under this case, investigators chose the measure of his freedom restraint in the form of the recognizance not to leave the country. However, after that, Orlov, along with some of the other detainees, was left for interrogation within the case of Nazism rehabilitation. Late at night it became known that he was released after interrogation.
On March 7, Yan Rachinsky, a former chairman of the "Memorial"* Society, noted that there was no confirmation of the information about the criminal case on Nazism rehabilitation against employees of "Memorial"*. Oleg Orlov, his colleague, has suggested that the purpose of disseminating this information was to force the society's employees to leave Russia.
After the searches conducted in the building in Maly Karetny Lane, where the office of the "Memorial"* was located, a female employee of the "Caucasian Knot" was also detained. At night, she was taken to the Investigating Department for the Tverskoy District of Moscow of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF); she was interrogated in the status of a witness by the investigator who is running the "Nazism rehabilitation" case.
Maxim Ovchinnikov, an advocate, who was brought in to help the above "Caucasian Knot" employee, said that the investigator "instructed three law enforcers not to allow" him to participate in the interrogation.
*The organization was included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the register of NCOs, performing the functions of a foreign agent, and was liquidated by a court’s decision.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 22, 2023 at 02:29 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: Caucasian Knot