KREMLIN CRITIC: Oleg Orlov on his way into court on Friday. Photo: ALEXANDER NEMENOV / AFP / NTB
At the same time that the world was preoccupied on Friday with the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, another Putin critic had to appear in court in Moscow.
Monday 19 February at 16:05
His name is Oleg Orlov (70), one of the leaders of the human rights organization Memorial, who in 2022 received the Nobel Peace Prize.
According to Tass he now faces three years in prison for discrediting the armed forces, which is prohibited under a law introduced in 2022. He has previously been fined for the same.
– How can someone be prosecuted just for expressing their opinion? Orlov asked in court.
He is accused of “being guided by enmity and hatred towards Russia’s armed forces”, reports msk1.ru.
– He is the Putin regime’s next victim. Now they want to stop him, says Inna Sangadzhieva, head of department at the Helsinki Committee.
– Orlov has been warned that this would happen. He could leave the country, but in the same way as, for example, Alexei Navalny, he has decided to stay in Russia.
Inna Sangadzhieva, Helsingforskomitee
He could leave the country, but in the same way as, for example, Alexei Navalny, he has decided to stay in Russia.
– Why is the regime persecuting Orlov?
– After the war started, he was among those who went to Red Square in Moscow with posters and protested. In 2022, he wrote a critical column in the French newspaper Le Monde in which he compared the Russian regime to fascism. And not least, he is one of the leaders of Memorial, which received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Oleg Orlov lays flowers at the memorial to the politically persecuted in Moscow. In recent days, a number of Russians have laid flowers in memory of Alexei Navalny here. This photo is from October 2023. Photo: EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA / Reuters / NTB
– Doesn’t the peace prize contribute to him being treated more leniently?
– Yes, even though Memorial was known to be illegal and closed down, there has been some caution from the Russian authorities in stopping the leaders there. And Orlov is a tough nut. When they pursue him, they know there will be an international uproar. And the authorities would rather not have that now that the “presidential election” is just around the corner, says Sangadzhieva – and believes there is reason to be wary of the word election.
– Why does it still happen?
– I guess it’s a bit like that the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing. They are not coordinated well enough. One hand goes hard with reprisals against the opposition, the other will carry out “elections”. For Putin, it is important to carry out a seamless election, from his point of view.
In the spring of 2022, after full-scale war began, Oleg Orlov had “Z” painted on his front door. “Z” is the symbol of support for the Russian war in Ukraine. Photo: – / AFP / NTB
– Do you think Putin has organized this?
– He probably knows about the case, but I don’t know how much he is involved. I think he was more involved in the murder of Navalny. But it is clear that it is now important for the regime to clear away the last remnants of criticism.
Sangadzhieva emphasizes that many opposition figures have left Russia, others are imprisoned and still others have died, such as Alexei Navalny, a well-known Russian opposition politician who, according to the prison authorities, died in a penal camp in northern Russia on February 16, 2024, and Boris Nemtsov, a well-known Russian politician who was critical of the Putin regime, and who was shot dead on a bridge near the Kremlin in February 2015..
She also talks about Boris Kagarlitsky, who last week was sentenced to five years in prison for “justifying terrorism”.
– That sentence was seen as a warning to Orlov that he should leave Russia, explains Sangadzhieva.
– In the same way as Orlov, he first received a fine, which then turned into a harsh prison sentence. Both were given an opportunity to leave the country, but have chosen to stay. It is a clear move by the Russian authorities to tighten their grip on the opposition.
Orlov must appear in court again on February 21 and 26.
– I am a law-abiding man who only goes green, he says himself in court.
2024-02-19 15:05:47
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