On March 6, 2022, in Moscow, the police detained Oleg Orlov, who had come out to Manezhnaya Square with a poster in his hands. The court sentenced the activist to a fine for violating the order of picketing.
Oleg Orlov was also detained on the square near the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on March 20, 2022, when the human rights defender was holding in his hands a poster criticizing President Vladimir Putin.
On March 30, 2022, the court sentenced Oleg Orlov to a fine for discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, but the human rights defender did not agree with the interpretation of his actions.
On April 10, 2022, the police detained Oleg Orlov on Red Square, when he came out to hold a solo picket with a poster in his hands announcing a call to know the truth and not be silent.
On April 29, 2022, Oleg Orlov and Irina Galkova, a former employee of the “International Memorial”*, were detained on Red Square during pickets.
On May 12, 2022, the activists were fined for violating the rules for holding pickets and discrediting the Russian Armed Forces.
As soon as the offensive began on February 24, 2022, Oleg Orlov, the co-chairman of the NGO’s multi-faceted human rights center dared to protest. He took to the streets, waving placards in front of the Duma (lower house of parliament), on the cobblestones of Red Square and elsewhere in central Moscow.
Each time, after a few minutes, he was stopped by the police. The indefatigable activist was protesting on his own, as authorized by Russia’s strict legislation on the right to demonstrate. But his hard-hitting messages were shattering the narrative imposed by the Kremlin:
“Peace to Ukraine, freedom to Russia.”
“Our refusal to know the truth and our silence make us accomplices to the crime.”
“Putin’s madness is pushing humanity toward nuclear war.”
“USSR 1945, country victorious over fascism; Russia 2022, country of triumphant fascism.”
March 6, 2022
March 20, 2022
The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on March 20, the police detained Oleg Orlov, a member of the board of the HRC “Memorial”*, on the square near the Bolshoi Theatre. In his hands, the human rights defender was holding a poster criticizing Vladimir Putin. A protocol on an administrative offense was drawn up against Oleg Orlov under the article on discrediting the Russian Armed Forces.
March 21, 2022
On March 21, criminal investigators in Moscow interrogated Orlov, informing him they had opened a criminal investigation against him for repeated acts of “discrediting” Russian armed forces, based on his single-person anti-war pickets and his social media post containing his trenchant criticism of the war and of the government’s slide toward totalitarianism and fascism. They released him later that day on his own recognizance.
Later
Today, the Tverskoi Court of Moscow has fined Oleg Orlov a member of the board of the HRC “Memorial”, 50,000 roubles for a picket held on March 20, the HRC “Memorial” reported on its Telegram channel “Polny PTs”.
“For the picket held on March 20, Oleg Orlov, a member of the board of the HRC ‘Memorial’*, was fined 50,000 roubles under Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation,” the HRC reports.
Oleg Orlov himself did not agree with the interpretation of his actions. “The policemen, who do not have any psychological or linguistic education, for some reason concluded that I was discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” commented Oleg Orlov as quoted by the HRC.
April 10, 2022
Oleg Orlov had held up a poster saying, “Our unwillingness to know the truth and our silence make us accomplices to the crimes.”
April 29, 2022
Human rights activist Oleg Orlov and former employee of the International Memorial Irina Galkova were detained on Red Square. On Orlov’s sign : “1945’s USSR = country that defeated fascism. 2022’s Russia = country of victorious fascism” On Galkova’s sign: “Stop Killing People! Peace in Ukraine!”
October 2022
Alexander Zemlyanichenko / AP / Scanpix / LETA
April 29, 2023
Review of the situation on April 29, 2023 by Mediazona
Human Rights Watch reporting too – see here
July 2023
On Friday, July 21, at the third hearing of his trial for “public activities aimed at discrediting” the Russian armed forces, this long-time dissident and his lawyers spent three hours proving that the case mounted against him made no sense. “The judge now has all the documents, all the evidence. It’s up to him to decide,” he told Le Monde just after the hearing, on the stairs of the small district court far from downtown Moscow, where his trial has been taking place since June 8. “Will this be enough to change the verdict? Probably not,” admitted Orlov. “Because, in our country, justice takes orders. And the orders…”
