U.S. Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Cohen Criticizes Russia for Seeking Shutdown of Leading Human Rights Organization

Following news that Russia’s Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit to shut down the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG), one of the country’s oldest human rights organizations, Congressman Steve Cohen, Co-Chairman of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, and the Special Representative on Political Prisoners for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, issued the following statement:

“The Moscow Helsinki Group is one of the oldest and most influential human rights organizations in Russia. The MHG inspired the creation of similar human rights organizations in Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Armenia, and other countries of the Soviet bloc.

“Soviet authorities have been cracking down on the MHG since its inception in 1976, with many of the Group's members arrested and sentenced to prison. Persecution of its members led the Moscow Helsinki Group to stop its work from 1982 to 1989. In 1989, the Moscow Helsinki Group resumed its work and began working to protect human rights and freedoms in Russia.

“The Moscow Helsinki Group was one of the main pillars of the dissident movement in the Soviet Union, and it was the MHG that created the conditions for the fight against the inhuman communist regime and helped save thousands of people from imprisonment and illegal arrests.

“The attempt to close MHG is another sign of total dictatorship and disregard for human rights in modern Russia.  We’ve seen this with the closure of the human rights organization Memorial Human Rights Centre and its sister organization Memorial International, attacks against independent media in Russia, and the detainment of oppositionist voices in Russia, including Alexi Navalny, Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara-Murza and the many Russian citizens who publicly oppose Putin’s war in Ukraine.

“I condemn this latest assault on human rights in Russia and call on the international community to do the same. We must stand united in the fight for the rights of people around the world and against dictatorships and authoritarian regimes that are only interested in maintaining their hold on power.”

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