Russian Human Rights Icon Oleg Orlov Loses Appeal Against Prison Sentence

Oleg Orlov, a 71-year-old Russian human rights activist and co-chair of Memorial, lost his appeal against a two-and-half-year prison sentence. He was convicted for discrediting the Russian army after protesting the war and criticizing President Putin. Orlov remains unrepentant, viewing his detention as standing with persecuted people.

Oleg Orlov, a veteran Russian human rights campaigner, on Thursday lost an appeal against his two-and-half-year prison sentence but said he stood by his denunciation of 'mass repression' in Russia.

Orlov, the 71-year-old co-chair of rights group Memorial, was found guilty in February of discrediting the Russian army after he protested against the war and wrote an article accusing President Vladimir Putin of leading the country into fascism. 'I have no remorse or regrets. I am in the right place at the right time,' he told a packed courtroom in Moscow, speaking by video link from a detention centre about 750 km (470 miles) away.

'When there is mass repression in the country, I am there alongside those who are persecuted, and in this way I help...' Orlov continued, before the sound was cut from his video feed. His lawyer, Katerina Tetrukhina, had argued that Orlov should be released immediately, saying the prosecution had failed to prove that he harboured 'ideological hostility' towards Russia's 'traditional values.'

'Oleg Petrovich Orlov did not harm a single person,' Tetrukhina said. 'An elderly man with no previous convictions should not be deprived of his freedom and torn away from his wife, who needs him by her side, for peacefully expressing an opinion.' Orlov's supporters have voiced concern about the state of his health, and his defence team has filed complaints saying that the conditions of his detention and transportation amount to cruel and degrading treatment.

In his final words to the court, Orlov paraphrased from speeches made at the Nuremberg Trials after World War Two. Russia had 'distorted, perverted, and finally achieved the total destruction of justice and law in the state,' said Orlov.

His words come on the heels of a landmark legal case against a Russian theatre director and playwright, who were jailed for six years on Monday for writing a play which authorities said had justified 'terrorism'.