Justice
Detention for Russian human rights activist Orlov
Oleg Orlov has to go behind bars. photo
© Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP/dpa
Oleg Orlov, who once co-headed the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Memorial organization, sharply criticized Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. For this he now has to go to the prison camp.
The well-known human rights activist Oleg Orlov was sentenced to two and a half years in a camp in Russia for criticizing the war. A court in Moscow found the 70-year-old, who once co-chaired the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization Memorial as co-chair, guilty of allegedly repeatedly “discrediting” Russia’s army.
A video released by Memorial shows Orlov being handcuffed in the courtroom after the verdict was announced. The Kremlin critic is considered internationally to be politically persecuted. Several Western diplomats also came to the court in Moscow’s Golovinsky district to hear the verdict.
In 2022, Orlov took a clear position against Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine in an article entitled “They wanted fascism, they got it.” In the text he also explicitly referred to the suffering of Ukrainians. A highly publicized trial against him then began in Russia and lasted several months.
Process reopened after fine
Last October, surprisingly, only a relatively small fine was imposed on him. In December, however, a judge overturned the verdict and ordered the trial to be reopened completely. Even then, Orlov’s supporters feared that the activist would ultimately be sentenced to prison.
Since the invasion of Ukraine began almost two years ago, Russia’s authorities have taken particularly tough action against critics and dissidents in their own country. Only around a week and a half ago, one of the most famous Russian opposition figures, Alexei Navalny, died at the age of just 47 after repeated solitary confinement in a prison camp north of the Arctic Circle.