Nachfolgend dokumentieren wir die Stellungnahme des Menschenrechtszentrums Memorial zum "Memorandum russischer Menschenrechtler" in englischer Übersetzung
Response of the Council of the Memorial Human Rights Center
Over the past year, the possibility of Russia’s withdrawal or expulsion from the Council of Europe has been actively discussed in the media and social networks.
Such a development will inevitably cause extremely serious consequences for the human rights situation in our country.
In the face of this threat, a group of Russian human rights activists issued a special Memorandum, and invited other like-minded members of Russian human rights NGOs to join the appeal. Our colleagues express their great concern and declare that Russia should remain in the Council of Europe, since, for our citizens, the European Court of Human Rights - the most important institution in the Council of Europe – is probably the only higher authority that can protect their basic human rights. Decisions issued by the European Court of Human Rights allow Russian civil society to fight for and sometimes achieve systemic changes in legislation and law enforcement practice. The Memorandum sets forth specific proposals addressed to the Council of Europe by the signatories. They propose to soften the sanctions against the Russian delegation in order to prevent it from pulling out of PACE.