Moscow:

A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced senior human rights activist Oleg Orlov to two and a half years in prison for condemning Russia’s attacks on Ukraine.

The 70-year-old is a key figure in the group commemorating the Nobel laureate and is the latest target of a Kremlin crackdown that has intensified since the Ukraine offensive.

“The court has found Orlov guilty and ordered a sentence of two years and six months in the penal colony of the General Power,” the judge said.

The bespectacled, white-haired activist winked at his wife, fellow activist Tatiana, as the judge read out the verdict.

He was detained in court and asked Tatiana to come over.

“Tanya, you promised me!” he told her, and she seemed to cry.

About 200 supporters waited in the corridor outside the court to say goodbye to him.

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

Orlov was accused of smearing the Russian military in a column he wrote for French online publication Mediapart and was fined after a first trial in October.

The fine was a relatively light punishment and prosecutors requested a new trial.

While other activists have fled the growing crackdown, Orlov has remained in Russia, saying he is “more useful” there than abroad.

He told AFP that he had devoted his career to studying the historical memory of Soviet crimes and rights abuses in modern Russia, particularly in the North Caucasus, leaving him no choice but to join the offensive against Ukraine.

By preserving the memory of victims of communist repression and campaigning against rights violations, the memorial has become an important pillar of Russian civil society.

The organization was officially disbanded by Russian authorities at the end of 2021 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, along with leading Ukrainian human rights organizations and senior Belarusian activists.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)