Prosecutors have demanded punishment for Oleg Orlov, the vice-chairman and founding member of Memorial, Russia’s oldest human rights organization that has now been banned. Orlov, aged 70, is facing trial for new allegations of “crimes”. The trial commenced on Friday morning in Moscow.
In a surprising move during his first statement, Orlov prohibited his lawyers from defending him in the court. The unexpected decision was clarified by Orlov, in the exile-based Novaya Gazeta magazine, as a measure to protect his legal counsel from the risks associated with his own classification as a “foreign agent”. It has been observed that lawyers representing such “agents” are increasingly becoming victims of prosecution in Russia. Orlov expressed his unwillingness to put his lawyers in harm’s way.
In the previous year, Orlov was found guilty of “defaming the reputation of the armed forces”. The judgement resulted in a fine of 150,000 rubles, which is approximately 1,500 euros. The sentence was appealed by the prosecutor, but the court did not consent to a retrial of the charge.
Subsequently, new charges were filed against Orlov by the prosecutor’s office. This time, the veteran human rights activist stands accused of propagating “ideological hatred against traditional Russian spiritual-moral and patriotic values”, as reported by The Present Time, an opposition website based in Prague.
According to Syaitene, Orlov is alleged to have incited such hatred by participating in a demonstration and writing an article that criticizes war. The article titled “They wanted fascism and that’s what they got” is considered an opinion piece by Orlov. The article was initially published on the anti-war T4P website in 2022.
In the article, Orlov accuses President Vladimir Putin of misleading a “huge mass of people” into supporting a fascist regime under Putin’s leadership. The charge of defaming the honor of the armed forces is still included in the allegations against Orlov. For these alleged crimes, Orlov could face a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
The organization Memorial, which has been banned in Russia, was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. The other recipients of the prestigious honor were Belarusian dissident Ales Byalyatskin and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties.
