Russian court slams Kremlin bid to close Memorial human rights group

Russia's highest court has dismissed a Kremlin bid to shut down leading human rights group Memorial. Activists are calling the verdict a rare victory for civil society and freedom of speech in Russia.

Deutsche Welle, 28 Jan 2015

Supreme Court judge Alla Nazarova rejected a lawsuit Wednesday by Russia's justice ministry to close down the human rights group Memorial. The organization gained a reputation by exposing Soviet-era repression.

The government department argued Memorial's charter did not correlate with the work it carried out, and it had committed a vast number of breaches, such as giving misleading information about overseas finance.

Following the judgment, the ministry released a statement saying Memorial had rectified all violations and the case would now be closed.

Memorial, which also works on issues relating to human rights across Russia, including the troubled Caucaus region, welcomed the court's findings but cautioned Moscow was still trying to control the work of non-governmental organizations.

"It is good that common sense won out," senior Memorial member Yan Rachinsky said in court.

"But it is difficult to accept it as a full victory for our organization."

Board member Oleg Orlov said the decision came down to a strong public campaign in support of Memorial, cautioning "the overall situation with Russian civil society is awful."

The rights group established itself during the final years of the Soviet Union, recording Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's purges. They also worked to commemorate victims of the 1930s mass executions.

Since his election for a record third term in 2012, President Vladimir Putin has introduced a raft of measures to make life unbearable for non-governmental groups.

The lawsuit came two years after harassment in the form of smear publications and vandalism to the group's headquarters in Moscow.

Memorial is currently before the courts fighting a separate legal battle against an official move to brand the group a "foreign agent." The controversial new law targets non-governmental groups which receive overseas funding.

jlw/jr (AFP, epd)

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"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… The Great Shift began in 1987 with the Harmonic Convergence. The first part of that shift ended in 1999. It's important that you understand that this first portion of the shift included the galactic alignment. For the true galactic alignment energy began in the first phase of the shift. As my partner indicated, this astronomical alignment is not coming in 2012. It's already here. This is not esoteric information, but something that your astronomers will verify with their telescopes and computers. The ancients did their best, and a good estimate it was. But the 2012 date for the galactic alignment is incorrect.

There are those of you sitting in the chairs who know what I mean. These past 20 years have been remarkable for you, have they not? Look at what has taken place and the awakening and changes that have occurred... all without any prophesy that foretold of them. Those who walk this stage today were not interested in spiritual things 20 years ago. Oh, they may have been seekers, but they had no core, they had no center, they had no purpose. This includes the one who channels in front of you [Lee Carroll], and the ones that have channelled before me on this stage [Geoff Hoppe-Tobias]. Twenty years ago, they were all separate and unknown to each other, without any spiritual purpose. They had no idea what Kryon was or Tobias was. None at all. Their lives were those of men with careers and of an age where starting another passion wasn't something they would do. But they did, and it coincided with the Great Shift.

Remember, there is no such thing as predestined prophecy. God cannot tell you what's going to happen, for on this planet, humans are in charge. "If that's the case, Kryon, how can you tell us about a plan?" It is because these things I speak of are the potentials in front of us, generated by the consciousness of humanity. Therefore, what I give you is something we read into the consciousness of potentials. They are not predictions, but potential energies of what you are about to accomplish as you act upon the energy of the consciousness you have now. Much has happened in these 20 years, and it's part of the shift. Here was the plan from 1987 to 1999 - we told you the following things would take place:

Remember, as I speak to you now, this is history. But when I gave it to you in 1989, it was your future. The first thing that was at hand was moving the magnetic grid. That's why I came here. The grid group came in 1989 and left in 2002, and the grid was moved for the reasons I've been giving you and itemizing for 20 years. It was to build a matrix for a change in your DNA. This is, indeed, what happened, for the grid's magnetic field moved greatly in that time, and it has intersected with the magnetic field of your DNA elements. This overlap has transmitted information and energy and a new quantumization to your DNA, which has always been quantumly prepared for this.

The second item in this first phase was the voiding of the energy of Armageddon. Now, for those of you who think nothing happened, a great deal happened: This planet moved into another energy at that time. One of the largest political systems on the planet fell over and didn't come back, known as the Soviet Union. Again, we say to you there is no Nostradamus quatrain that predicted this, and that should tell you something. It changed the future greatly, yet no prophet called it. Something was happening that was out of synch with everything you had been told. This one event changed the future of a potential war that would never happen. The Armageddon scenario simply didn't take place. Look back at your prophesy, but clearly it said it would. …”