The prosecutor’s office insists on a prison term for Oleg Orlov

The prosecutor’s office demanded a tougher sentence for Oleg Orlov, ex-head of “Memorial”. This was reported in the Telegram channel of the human rights organization liquidated by court decision.

The prosecution filed an appeal, requesting a three-year prison sentence for the human rights defender. This is the maximum penalty for the article on “discrediting” the army in the version for which Orlov was previously fined 150 thousand rubles. It happened on October 11.

The prosecutor’s office explained the change in its position by the fact that Oleg Orlov allegedly “experiences political and ideological hatred of the Russian Federation” and “continues to undermine the stability of civil society” together with “Memorial”.

“Now no one can doubt that this process was and continues to be of a political nature. I am being persecuted for dissent,” Oleg Orlov himself commented on what was happening.

The case against the human rights defender was initiated in March 2023 after he and eight other Memorial employees were searched in the criminal case of “rehabilitation of Nazism.” The criminal article for “discrediting” was brought in connection with the fact that in 2022, Orlov already had administrative violations under the same article, “Nastoyastchee vremya” notes.