Russia: Putin continues to get rid of his critics – well-known civil rights activist sentenced to two and a half years in prison for “discrediting the army”.

ISHR fears for the lives of numerous dissidents in Russia after the death of Alexei Navalny

Frankfurt am Main, February 28, 2024 – On the occasion of the ninth anniversary of the death of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) draws attention to the ongoing wave of repression in Russia and Belarus as well as the fate of numerous civil rights activists. The 70-year-old Oleg Orlov, co-founder of the human rights organization Memorial, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and is now banned in Russia, was sentenced yesterday to two years and six months in prison for discrediting the army. After the death of the most famous Putin critic, Alexei Navalny, in a Russian prison camp two weeks ago, the ISHR fears that other opposition figures will also disappear and imprisoned dissidents such as the journalist Vladimir Kara-Mursa will be murdered.

“With Oleg Orlov, a veteran of the Russian human rights movement has now been arrested, who has already dealt with the crimes of the Stalin regime. Putin continues to get rid of his critics – he discredits them, has them arrested and sentenced to long prison sentences, which they often have to serve in prison camps, far from their families and the public. They are tortured, suffer from solitary confinement and are murdered. “Alexei Navalny’s fate shows that Putin does not shy away from murdering dissidents whose fate is known worldwide,” explains ISFM chairman Edgar Lamm.

Kremlin critics had condemned Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine

Oleg Orlov has been an employee of the NGO Memorial since the 1980s, which particularly dealt with the period of repression under Stalin and organized the prisoner exchange as a mediator during the Chechen wars. In 2022, Memorial received the Nobel Peace Prize. At that time, however, the organization was already banned in Russia. The criminal case against Oleg Orlov was opened in March 2023 because of his article “They wanted fascism. You got it” opened in which the Kremlin critic condemns the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. In October 2023 he was therefore sentenced to a fine of 150,000 rubles (around one and a half thousand euros). The public prosecutor then appealed and demanded three years in prison. The investigation was reopened and it was explained that the article was published out of “hostility to traditional Russian spiritual, moral and patriotic values” and out of “hatred of the Russian military.” The ISHR reports that Oleg Orlov is being discredited as a “foreign agent” by Putin’s regime.

The Federal Government must stand up for human rights in Russia

The ISHR appeals to the federal government to work to improve the human rights situation in Russia. The Frankfurt-based human rights organization is currently particularly concerned about the Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Mursa. After the start of the war against Ukraine, the journalist Vladimir Kara-Mursa founded the ‘Russian Anti-War Committee’ together with other opposition members and is now serving a 25-year prison sentence in a penal colony in Omsk.

On Karinna Moskalenko’s comment on Orlov’s verdict

Source : igfm.de