A Russian court has ordered the closure of the Sakharov Center—a prominent human rights organization that preserved the legacy of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov—in the latest move in a widespread crackdown on dissent.
Moscow City Court said in a statement on Friday that it decided to dissolve the organization, which was launched nearly 30 years ago, for illegally hosting conferences and exhibitions.
In January, Russia’s prosecutor general’s office said the Andrei Sakharov Foundation in the United States had been added to a list of foreign and international nongovernmental organizations whose activities were “recognized as undesirable” on Russian territory. Under a 2015 law, the label makes involvement a criminal offence.
Sakharov, who died in 1989, was a key figure in developing the Soviet Union’s hydrogen bomb program but later become renowned for his activism in promoting human rights and freedom of conscience.
Kremlin critics have said authorities are widening a historic crackdown on dissent, with most opposition figures behind bars or in exile and top rights groups shut down.
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