This Russian Activist Was Sentenced To Prison For Criticizing Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
Oleg Orlov, one of Russia’s most prominent human rights activists, had criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and said president Vladimir Putin had pushed the country towards fascism.
Russia has jailed this 70-year-old activist for two-and-a-half years for criticizing its war in Ukraine.
Oleg Orlov, one of Russia’s most prominent human rights activists, had written an article for a French magazine that criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and said president Vladimir Putin had pushed the country towards fascism.
Initially, in October 2023, Orlov, who is the co-chairman of a Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group called Memorial, was fined 150,000 rubles, or around $1,650 US dollars.
But Russian authorities appealed for a tougher sentence, saying that Orlov wrote the article out of resentment towards “traditional Russian spiritual, moral, and patriotic values”, and hatred for the Russian military.
On Tuesday, Feb. 27, a court in Moscow then sentenced him to 30-months in prison for “discrediting the Russian military.”
Since its invasion in February 2022, Russia has passed laws criminalizing anti-war protests and war reporting, with people facing up to 15 years in prison.
In his closing statement, Orlov said that he had committed no crime and did not regret anything.
He added that Russia invading Ukraine, strangling freedom in the country, “killing” opposition leader Alexei Navalny and imprisoning him are all “links in the same chain”.
He echoed Navalny’s last message and called on those fighting for Russia’s freedom not to lose heart and optimism, saying that victory is inevitable.
