Veteran Memorial rights organization activist Orlov is imprisoned in Russia

Leading human rights advocate Oleg Orlov was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison by a Russian court on Tuesday for criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The 70-year-old is the most recent victim of Kremlin persecution, which has increased since the war in Ukraine. He is a significant member of the Memorial group that won the Nobel Prize.

“The court has determined Orlov’s guilt and orders a sentence of two years and six months… in a general regime penal colony,” stated the judge.

The white-haired, bespectacled campaigner smirked at his wife Tatyana, another activist, as the judge delivered the decision.

He requested Tatyana to come over after being brought into jail in the courtroom.

He said, “Tanya, you promised me!” as she seemed to start crying.

About two hundred fans had gathered in the hallway outside the courthouse to wish him farewell.

In a previous interview, Orlov had told AFP he had no illusions about how the trial would turn out.

Following a preliminary hearing, Orlov was fined in October after it was alleged that he had denigrated the Russian army in a column for the French online journal Mediapart.

A new trial was requested by the prosecution, and the fine was a quite light sentence.

Orlov stayed in Russia, claiming he was “more useful” there than overseas, while other activists fled the escalating crackdown.

He told AFP that he had no option but to oppose the Ukraine invasion because of his professional background spent researching the historical memory of Soviet atrocities and human rights violations in contemporary Russia, particularly in the North Caucasus.

By fighting against human rights abuses and honoring the memory of those who perished as a result of soviet persecution, Memorial became a vital foundation of Russian civil society.

The organization was formally dissolved by Russian authorities in late 2021, and it shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 with a well-known Ukrainian human rights organization and an experienced campaigner from Belarus.