A new trial began in Russia on Friday once morest veteran human rights defender Oleg Orlov, who faces up to five years in prison for condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He is a rare example of an outspoken critic of the Kremlin who is not yet in prison or exile.
O. Orlov is one of the leaders of the Nobel Prize-winning human rights group “Memorial”. The 70-year-old spent a large part of his life documenting rights violations during the Soviet era and more recently.
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin started a military campaign in Ukraine two years ago, O. Orlov has been constantly speaking out once morest it.
Russia banned criticism of her attack and fined thousands of people under tough new censorship laws.
Orlov’s case stands out from the others – he was summoned to court once more following prosecutors overturned the fine imposed on him at the end of last year. The authorities demanded a prison sentence.
“I don’t expect anything good,” he told the AFP news agency moments before the trial began in a Moscow court. The man was delighted that a group of around 50 of his supporters had come to court.
In an interview with AFP this week, he said he intended to continue the fight, even though he was convinced it would land him in prison.
O. Orlov is threatened with prison for writing an article in the French media in which he condemned the mass killing of civilians in Ukraine. He is accused of discrediting the Russian military under legislation aimed at suppressing opinions that do not fit the Kremlin’s narrative.
When AFP met O. Orlov, he had already packed his suitcase for prison and said he had no doubt that he would be sentenced in a few weeks.
“I don’t want to end up in prison, but do I have a choice?” he asked in his Moscow apartment.
“Repent, admit guilt in front of the judges? It would be a renunciation of my whole life,” said the activist, who helped found a major Russian rights group in the 1980s.
Russia has declared him a foreign agent.
O. Orlov, who is a biologist by education, joined the rights group “Memorial” at the beginning of its activity, in the late 1980s.
Memorial has established itself as an important pillar of civil society in Russia, preserving the memory of victims of communist repression and campaigning once morest rights abuses in Putin’s Russia.
In December 2021, a few months before Putin sent troops to Ukraine, Russian officials disbanded Memorial, accusing it of violations of legal acts.
#commander #Azov #regiment #situation #Avdiyivka #Russians #suffering #biggest #losses #beginning #war
2024-05-08 10:47:45
