Oleg Orlov

Human rights activist, former Chairman of the Council of the Memorial Human Rights Centre and Co-Chairman of the Memorial Centre for the Protection of Human Rights. A criminal case of defamation against Chechen head of state Ramzan Kadyrov was opened on 20 October 2009. In the spring of 2010, the materials were transferred for further investigation to the investigative section of the Investigative Department of the Central Administrative District Department of Internal Affairs. On 6 July 2010, the investigator charged Orlov with a crime. On 23 July 2010, Orlov and his lawyer signed a protocol on familiarisation with the materials of the criminal case. At the same time, they filed a motion to discontinue the criminal case, which was denied in full. When signing the protocol on familiarisation with the materials of the criminal case, the investigator informed Orlov that she was electing a preventive measure against him in the form of a written undertaking not to leave. Orlov and his lawyer stated that the investigator had no grounds for such a ruling and refused to sign the ruling on the election of a measure of restriction. Subsequently, the defendant and his lawyer, despite the fact that the indictment stated that a measure of restriction had been imposed on Orlov in the form of recognizance not to leave, proceeded in their behaviour on the basis that there was no such measure against Orlov because the defendant had not signed it. On 29 July 2010, the Prosecutor's Office of the Central Administrative District of Moscow sent the criminal case to the Khamovniki District Court, from where it was redirected for consideration by a justice of the peace of the peace of judicial district No. 363 of the Khamovniki district. On 30 July Orlov was handed an indictment. On 14 June 2011, the judge issued a verdict of acquittal. On 4 October 2011, the case was heard on appeal. On 20 January 2012, the case was closed due to decriminalisation of the incriminated act.

The same act of Orlov, which led to the case against him, was previously considered in a civil case. On 13 August 2009, Ramzan Kadyrov's representative filed a lawsuit for protection of honour, dignity, business reputation and compensation for moral damage in the Tverskoy Court of Moscow, with the Memorial Human Rights Centre and Orlov as defendants. As a result of the court hearings, a judgement was rendered in the civil case. The court ordered the defendants to refute the materials defaming the plaintiff's honour, dignity and business reputation and to pay compensation for moral damage in the amount of 70,000 roubles (the plaintiff had demanded 10 million roubles).

On 21 March 2023, Orlov was detained after a search and informed that a case had been opened for discrediting the use of the Russian Armed Forces. On that day there were also mass searches of International Memorial employees as part of another case - on the rehabilitation of Nazism (item "c" of part 2 of article 354.1 of the Criminal Code), in this case Orlov was involved as a witness.

On 11 October 2023, Orlov was sentenced to a fine of 150 thousand rubles in the case of discrediting the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. On 14 December, the court of appeal cancelled the sentence and returned the case to the prosecutor's office. At the end of January 2024, the second investigation in Orlov's case was completed: the investigator found in the actions of the human rights defender the motive of "ideological enmity to traditional Russian spiritual, moral and patriotic values", as well as the motive of hatred towards the social group "servicemen". Orlov and his defence were restricted the time to get acquainted with the case. On 6 February, after the prosecutor's office approved the indictment, the senior assistant prosecutor called Orlov and his lawyer Katerina Tertukhina repeatedly throughout the day, insisting that they come immediately to get the document and even offered to come to their homes. The next day, the assistant prosecutor came to the address of Tertukhina's lawyer's office accompanied by law enforcement officers with automatic rifles; without finding the lawyer, he began to question neighbours about her whereabouts. During the repeated hearings, Orlov refused to answer questions or participate in the debates. On 27 February 2024, the human rights defender was sentenced to two and a half years in a general regime colony.

After the sentence and placement in the pre-trial detention centre, Orlov's health deteriorated, and in the absence of treatment, the human rights defender began to hear much worse.

On 1 August 2024, Orlov was released as part of a prisoner exchange between the Russian Federation and other states.