Orlov Oleg Petrovich

In Moscow in March 2023, a criminal case was opened against human rights defender Oleg Orlov for repeated "discrediting" of the Russian army. The reason for the criminal case was a repost on Facebook of his own article 'They Wanted Fascism.' They received it" for the French edition of Mediapart. The human rights activist wrote that "the bloody war unleashed by Putin's regime in Ukraine is not only the mass killing of people, the destruction of infrastructure, the economy, cultural objects of this wonderful country. Not only the destruction of the foundations of international law. This is also a heavy blow to Russia's future. Earlier, on May 12, 2022, Orlova was fined 50 thousand rubles under an administrative article on discrediting the army because of a poster "USSR 1945 - the country that defeated fascism." "Russia 2022 — a country of victorious fascism, which he unfurled on Manezhnaya Square in Moscow. As a result of the repeated investigation into the case, the human rights activist's actions were found to have a motive of "ideological enmity towards traditional Russian spiritual and moral and patriotic values, as well as a motive of hatred towards the social group of "military personnel." On February 27, 2024, Judge Elena Astakhova of the Golovinsky District Court of Moscow found Oleg Orlov guilty and sentenced him to two and a half years in a general regime colony. 11 July 2024, the Moscow City Court upheld the sentence. On August 1, 2024, Oleg Orlov was released as part of a prisoner exchange between Germany and Russia.