UN warns Russia against closing top rights group

• The Memorial rights group could be disbanded over alleged systematic violations of the constitution and "foreign agent" legislation.
• Later this month, Russia's supreme court is due to consider the request to dissolve the rights group.
• The Memorial rights group oversees the work of around 50 branches across the country and abroad.

A UN official Thursday warned that Russia would show "flagrant disregard" of the United Nations' values if it moved ahead with plans to shutter the country's top rights group Memorial.

Last week prosecutors moved to dissolve the group over alleged systematic violations of the constitution and "foreign agent" legislation, as well as purported justification of "terrorism and extremism".

The pressure on Memorial comes amid an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition and independent groups, after authorities imprisoned Russia's top opposition politician Alexei Navalny earlier this year.

"I hope that the authorities will not go so far as to disband, as this would show a flagrant disregard for UN values," said Mary Lawlor, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

"I also fear that if Memorial is targeted, it will only be a matter of time before the remaining actors of civil society in Russia are also targeted," she said in a video press conference.

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Russia's supreme court is due on 25 November to consider the request to dissolve the rights group, which oversees the work of around 50 branches across the country and abroad.

On Wednesday, one of Memorial's founding members told AFP that the move shows the Kremlin has taken a "sharp" dictatorial turn.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Memorial had "long had issues with observing Russian legislation".

A member of the presidential rights council, which usually toes the Kremlin's line, said Thursday that the advisory body plans to raise the subject with President Vladimir Putin.

Founded in 1989 by rights activists including renowned scientist and Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, Memorial has been in the cross-hairs of the Russian authorities for years.

The organisation, which has been regularly cited as a potential Nobel Peace Prize winner but never won, campaigns for the preservation of historical memory in Russia and against rights violations.