A Moscow court has sentenced a prominent Russian human rights activist, Oleg Orlov, to two and a half years in prison for allegedly criticizing his country's war on Ukraine.
Orlov is also the co-chairman of Memorial, a Russian rights group that received the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. While the Kremlin ordered his group to be liquidated in late 2021, the human rights activist chose to stay in Russia after it conducted its invasion of Ukraine two years ago.
Russia Imprisons Prominent Human Rights Activist
The 70-year-old has continued to criticize Moscow's military operations as well ashis government despite a climate of increasing repression. In November 2022, Orlov wrote an article headlined "They Wanted Fascism. They Got it."
In his writing, he blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin and the wider Russian public for the "mass murder of the Ukrainian people" as well as for dealing a "very heavy blow to Russia's future."
The human rights activist added that the nation that left behind communist totalitarianism 30 three decades ago has slipped back into totalitarianism of the fascist variety. Nearly a year after the publication of the article, he was convicted of "repeated discrediting" of Russia's armed forces, as per the New York Times.
That particular charge carries a sentence of up to five years in prison but he was only given a fine of roughly $16,600 because of mitigating factors. These include his age and his prominent public profile.
Prosecutors accused Orlov of exhibiting a "motive of enmity and hatred" toward Russian military personnel. They requested that the human rights activist be retried and given a three-year prison sentence for his alleged crimes. A Moscow court reheard the case that resulted in the Tuesday sentencing.
On the other hand, Orlov has maintained his innocence and denounced the charges against him as bogus. He said that he did not plead guilty and argued that the accusation was not clear to him. He added that the court was unable to clearly explain the essence of the charges brought against him despite his requests.
Hatred for the Russian Military
Prior to his sentencing on Tuesday, Orlov said that he viewed the prosecutors' request to imprison him as a "demand from the top." However, he said that he still has hopes that Russia could change in the future, according to the Moscow Times.
During an interview on Monday, the human rights activist said that he understood the threats that he faced for opposing Russia's war on Ukraine. He said that his trial, which lasted for a year, was not easy for him. He added that he does not know if he would have published his article if he knew that this was going to happen but leaned towards doing so still.
Following the verdict, the 70-year-old was handcuffed and taken into custody, which marked the conclusion of his retrial. On top of hatred for the military, prosecutors said that Orlov's article was motivated by hostility toward traditional Russian spiritual, moral, and patriotic values.
Memorial issued a statement calling Orlov's sentence an attempt to drown out the voice of the human rights movement in the country as well as any criticism of the state, said the Associated Press.
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