“The (President Vladimir) Putin regime has for a few years tried to silence the management of Memorial and different necessary civil society organisations in Russia, and they’re now utilizing the conflict on Ukraine as a pretext to complete the job,” Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Jorgen Watne Frydnes mentioned in assertion,
The Norwegian Nobel Committee’s assertion adopted a day after Oleg Orlov, a outstanding member of the Nobel Prize-winning Memorial group, obtained a two-and-a-half-year jail sentence for talking out towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In October 2023, a Moscow court docket had convicted Orlov and fined him 150,000 rubles (about USD 1,500 on the time), a considerably milder punishment when in comparison with the lengthy jail phrases others have obtained for criticising the conflict.
Who’s Oleg Orlov?
Oleg Orlov is a veteran human rights campaigner and the co-chairman of Memorial, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group primarily based in Russia. He was convicted by a Moscow court docket for “repeatedly discrediting” the Russian navy by criticizing the conflict in Ukraine and was fined 150,000 rubles (about USD 1,500 on the time). Regardless of his conviction and subsequent sentencing to 2 1⁄2 years in jail, Orlov has maintained his stance towards the conflict and rejected the case as politically motivated.
His sentencing has drawn worldwide consideration and condemnation from human rights advocates and diplomats, highlighting considerations over the shrinking house for dissent in Russia.
“I’m alarmed and anxious by at present’s final result. Oleg Orlov has personally fought for the rights of Russians for greater than 45 years,” US Ambassador Lynne Tracy mentioned in an announcement. “In earlier instances, his efforts have been awarded on the highest ranges. In at present’s Russia he’s being locked away for them.”
