The cofounder of the Russian human rights group Memorial, Oleg Orlov, 70, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison by a court in Moscow this Tuesday (27). Orlov, one of the key names in the group that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, was accused of “attacking the credibility of the Russian armed forces” by protesting against the war in Ukraine and accusing President Vladimir Putin of turning the country into fascism fall.
Orlov was found guilty of taking part in antiwar protests and writing an article entitled “They wanted fascism. And they got him,” which was published in a French newspaper in November 2022. In the text, Orlov accuses Putin and part of the Russian population of being responsible for the “mass murder of the Ukrainian people” and dealing a “serious blow to the future of Russia.”
Upon hearing the verdict, the activist said that the conviction “shows that my article was correct.” Supporters and diplomats from Western countries took part in the process. Prosecutors told the court that Orlov had demonstrated “political hatred of Russia.” He was convicted under laws passed shortly after the war that imposed prison sentences for anyone who attacked the armed forces or spread false information about them.
Out there
The monument won the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2022 along with Ales Bialiatiski of Belarus and the Center for Civil Liberties of Ukraine. The selection was a response to Putin's invasion of the neighboring country in February that year, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee said at the time that the three laureates had made “remarkable efforts to document war crimes, human rights violations and abuse of power.” .” .
The group is one of the oldest human rights groups in Russia and was founded in 1989 with the aim of documenting the victims of Stalinism. In December 2021, the country's Supreme Court banned and disbanded the group on the grounds that it was acting as a “foreign agent.”
In a statement, Memorial said Orlov's sentencing was “an attempt to suppress the voices of Russian human rights movements, but we will continue our work” and that the cofounder was “a true Russian patriot.” “However, in Russia everything is upside down: war is peace, calling for peace is a crime and condemning state violence is a hate crime.”
Orlov's sentencing comes a few days after the death of Russia's bestknown dissident Alexei Navalni, who died on the 16th under unclear circumstances in a penal colony in the Russian Arctic. His body was handed over to his mother, Ludmila Navalnaia, on Saturday (24).