In Russia, Oleg Orlov, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2022, co-founder of the dissolved Russian NGO Memorial for the defense of human rights and preservation of the memory of the victims of Soviet power, now risks three years of detention following a new indictment of his country’s justice system.
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Already sentenced in October 2023 to a fine of 150,000 rubles for “repeated discredit” of the army, Oleg Orlov, 70, will have to appear on February 16, 2024 for a new hearing. Justice Russian took advantage of the resumption on social networks of an article by the co-founder of the NGO to construct this new accusation, explains Natalia Morozova, lawyer for Memorial, and now a refugee in France.
“ Last drop »
“ He is accused because he published his blog called “They wanted fascism, they got it” on the French site Mediapart, and he published the Russian translation on his Facebookshe says. And since he already went out on the street with a sign against the war, he was also accused of “discrediting” the army, so this article was the last straw for Russian justice. He faces three years in prison. You still have to understand that he is 70 years old, and Russian prison is not good, even for healthy people. They are doing everything to get him out of Russia, but he doesn’t want to do it. »
Memorial Pillar
On February 2, the Russian authorities placed Oleg Orlov on the infamous list of “foreign agents”. Hundreds of people, human rights activists, opponents or independent journalists have been placed in recent years on this list, the qualification of which is accompanied by strict administrative constraints and the obligation to appear as such in all communication. public. Active since the 1970s, Oleg Orlov was one of the pillars of Memorial, the main organization fighting in Russia to preserve the memory of Soviet repressions and documenting those of President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
(With AFP)
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