Memorial St Petersburg latest press release

[Robert Chandler]

> Dear friends and colleagues,
> 
> there are some good news: yesterday the Court of the Dzerzhinskii region in St
> Petersburg, following a complaint filed by Memorial's lawyer, Ivan Pavlov,
> declared the raid on the office of RIC "Memorial" on 4 December illegal due to
> gross procedural violations (in particular the fact that Memorial was denied
> the right to have a lawyer present during the search of their premises) and
> ordered the investigator to return all materials confiscated during the
> search. 
> 
> The investigator can lodge an appeal against this decision with the City Court
> within the next ten days. Until then the confiscated materials will not be
> returned. 
> 
> However, the raid itself was declared valid, i.e. the judge confirmed that Mr
> Kalganov, the investigator, had good reason for ordering the raid, which means
> that Memorial's good name has not yet been restored.
> 
> Memorial wishes to thank everyone who supported them during these difficult
> times. Please continue to follow the story in the news (polit.ru
> <http://polit.ru/>  runs regular updates, including lawyer Ivan Pavlov's
> concluding speech in court yesterday
> http://www.polit.ru/dossie/2009/01/21/pavlov.html ). The last two press
> releases are attached (in Russian). Feel free to circulate.
> 
> Let us continue to hope this story will come to a good end.
> 
> Best wishes, 
> 
> Josie von Zitzewitz
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 



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