“Putin is a war criminal, but I’m staying behind bars,” Yashin told the court. “This is a strange situation, don’t you think?” He is also known for his political closeness to opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a penal camp in the Arctic region in February, and to former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, who was shot near the Kremlin.
The 71-year-old is one of the best-known human rights activists and bravest fighters for justice in Russia. The co-founder of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization Memorial was also sentenced to two and a half years in a prison camp for criticizing Putin’s war. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which is responsible for the Nobel Peace Prize, criticized the activist’s conviction as politically motivated.
Orlov himself was often present as an observer at court cases against dissidents. He made a name for himself as a critic of Russian judicial arbitrariness, primarily because of his civil courage, which was valued by many. He also stayed in Russia despite the risk of imprisonment in order to continue to fight against political repression in the country. Memorial was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 for documenting war crimes, human rights violations and abuse of power in the former Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia.
Just a few days ago, a Russian court sentenced the US journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to six and a half years in a penal colony for allegedly reporting false information about the army. The reason for the verdict was a book she published in November 2022 entitled “No to War. 40 Stories of Russians Resisting the Invasion of Ukraine,” according to the Russian opposition platform “meduza”. Kurmasheva, who works for the Tatar program of the US foreign broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), had been in prison since October.
Other Russian political prisoners were also released, including the artist Alexandra Skotschilenko and the former heads of Kremlin opponent Navalny’s regional staff, Liliya Chanysheva from Ufa and Ksenia Fadeyeva from Tomsk. Navalny’s employee Vadim Ostanin was also released.
All of them are opponents of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and received long sentences. The West had criticized the verdicts as judicial arbitrariness and demanded the release of the prisoners. Also released was 19-year-old German-Russian Kevin L., who was sentenced to four years in prison for treason in December 2023.
At the beginning of July, Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitri Muratov, who founded the Kremlin-critical newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which is now banned in Russia, publicly called on Western states in a video message to help release imprisoned Kremlin opponents. Six of those who have now been released were on his list, which includes eleven names. Also listed were theater director Yevgeniya Berkovich, dramaturge Svetlana Petrijtschuk, activist Igor Baryshnikov, local politician Alexei Gorinov and pediatrician Nadezhda Buyanova. Even after the exchange, dozens of political prisoners remain in the penal camps.
