Moscow court jails human rights activist for 30 months over Ukraine war criticism
A veteran human rights campaigner who criticised the war in Ukraine was convicted by a Moscow court on Tuesday of “repeatedly discrediting” the Russian military and sentenced to two years and six months in prison.
Oleg Orlov, co-chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial, had rejected the case against him as politically motivated, saying in his closing statement: “I don't regret anything and I don’t repent anything.” He also denounced the war again.
The 70-year-old was handcuffed and taken into custody at the conclusion of a retrial after he was earlier convicted and fined.
Underlining the low tolerance for criticism of the war by the government of president Vladimir Putin, the prosecution had appealed, seeking a harsher punishment. The prosecution claimed that Orlov was motivated to write the anti-war article by hostility towards “traditional Russian spiritual, moral and patriotic values” and hatred of the military, according to the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona. Memorial called Orlov’s sentence “an attempt to drown out the voice of the human rights movement in Russia and any criticism of the state”.
It vowed to continue its work. The verdict drew a crowd of dozens of supporters, including 18 Western diplomats, Mediazona reported.
US Ambassador Lynne Tracy said: “I am alarmed and concerned by today’s outcome. Oleg Orlov has personally fought for the rights of Russians for more than 45 years.
“In previous times, his efforts have been awarded at the highest levels. In today’s Russia he is being locked away for them.”
In October 2023, a Moscow court convicted Orlov and fined him 150,000 roubles (around £1,300), a significantly milder punishment when compared with the long prison terms others have received for criticising the war.
Both the defence and the prosecution appealed, and a higher court voided the fine, sending the case back to the prosecutors.
The new trial began earlier this month, another step in an unrelenting crackdown on dissent that the Kremlin ratcheted up after sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022.