The declaration states further that: «Men in masks, armed with militia batons, occupied the Centre’s building, and confiscated all the computers’ hard disks, which contain the results of twenty years of historical research and, in addition, materials belonging to one of the Centre’s employees, art scholar Aleksandr Margolis, known also for his statements in defence of the city’s architectural face.

The ‘Memorial’ Society and its Research-Information Centre in St Petersburg know absolutely nothing about either the newspaper publication in connection with which the search was allegedly conducted, or about the ‘Novyi Peterburg’ newspaper itself. By all appearances, this publication is nothing more than a pretext for conducting a search of the ‘Memorial’ premises.

The confiscated disks contain databases with biographical information on tens of thousands of victims of the Stalinist repressions, collected by ‘Memorial’ over the course of twenty years; unique collections of photographical materials and copies of documents on the theme of Soviet terror; the results of expeditions made to identify the sites of camp cemeteries and execution grounds on the territory of the former USSR; and an archive of audio-files of interviews with former GULAG prisoners.

The International Society ‘Memorial’ demands the immediate return of the confiscated materials, which have and can have no connection whatsoever to any ‘extremist’ publications. ‘Memorial’ warns the St Petersburg city procuracy that these materials are of great scientific value, and that the procuracy bears complete responsibility for their safety.

Executive Committee of International Society “Memorial”»