Nobel-winning rights group co-chair, Oleg Orlov, sentenced to 30 months in prison

Veteran human rights activist and co-chair of the rights group Memorial, Oleg Orlov, on Tuesday (Feb 27) was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for discrediting the Russian army.

The 70-year-old has served as one of the leaders of the rights group, Memorial, for more than two decades. The Russian rights group won a share of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, a year after being banned and dissolved.

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What happened in the court?

A report by Reuters citing Memorial said Orlov was handcuffed after the verdict, and the court ordered him to be taken immediately into custody. In his closing remarks on Monday (Feb 26), the 70-year-old decried the “strangulation of freedom” in Russia.

Orlov was convicted of “repeatedly discrediting” the Russian army in an article he wrote in 2022 which opposed the Ukraine war. However, the 70-year-old had rejected the case against him and called it politically motivated.

The veteran human rights activist was initially just charged a fine of $1,628 by a district court in 2023 given his age and health, but a retrial was later ordered in the case. The prosecution, on Monday, sought a sentence of two years and 11 months in prison.

The charges against the 70-year-old rights activist stem from the article he wrote in 2022, in which he criticised the invasion of Ukraine and reportedly said Russia under President Vladimir Putin had descended into fascism.

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The prosecution had alleged that Orlov had published the article motivated by hostility “against traditional Russian spiritual, moral and patriotic values” and hatred of the Russian military, reported Russian news outlet Mediazona, on Tuesday.

Orlov calls Russia ‘fascist’ in court

The sentence comes a day after the veteran human rights activist in his closing arguments maintained that he had committed no crime and regretted nothing. He also went on to criticise the “totalitarian” and “fascist” Russian state.

“All these are links in the same chain: the death, or rather, the massacre of Alexei (Navalny), the judicial reprisals against other critics of the regime, including me, the strangulation of freedom in the country, the entry of Russian troops into Ukraine,” the 70-year-old told the court.

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He added, “Isn’t it scary to watch what our country, which you probably also love, is turning into? Isn’t it scary that in this absurdity, in this dystopia, maybe not only you and your children will have to live, but also, God forbid, your grandchildren?”

Orlov’s remarks were broadcast on Memorial’s Telegram channel. The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Russia, Mariana Katzarova called the trial “an orchestrated attempt to silence the voices of human rights defenders in Russia.”

(With inputs from agencies)