Russia jails veteran activist Orlov of Nobel-winning Memorial rights group

A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced top human rights campaigner Oleg Orlov to two and a half years in jail for denouncing Russia’s assault on Ukraine.

The 70-year-old, a key figure of the Nobel Prize-winning Memorial group, is the latest target of Kremlin repression, which has intensified since the offensive in Ukraine.

“The court has determined Orlov’s guilt and orders a sentence of two years and six months… in a general regime penal colony,” the judge said.

As the judge read the verdict, the bespectacled, white-haired activist winked at his wife, fellow activist Tatyana.

He was taken into custody in the courtroom and asked Tatyana to come over.

“Tanya, you promised me!” he told her as she appeared to tear up.

Around 200 supporters were waiting in the corridor outside the courtroom to bid him goodbye.

Orlov had told AFP in a recent interview that he held no illusions on the outcome of the trial.

Orlov was accused of discrediting the Russian army in a column written for the French online publication Mediapart, and fined in October after a first trial.

The fine was a relatively lenient punishment and prosecutors called for a new trial.