Orlov* provided with no medical care at SIZO, human rights defender’s colleagues claim

Oleg Orlov* asked for medical help due to a cold and hearing loss, but was not examined by medical officers at a SIZO (pre-trial prison) because of his daily trips to court. An advocate of Oleg Orlov* has not been able to have a confidential conversation with him for two weeks, the “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence** reported.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on February 27, Oleg Orlov*, the co-chair of the “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence**, was found guilty in a criminal case on discrediting the Russian Armed Forces and sentenced to 2.5 years of imprisonment. Oleg Orlov* is deprived of hot meals and subjected to exhausting daily trips from the SIZO to the court, advocates state in their complaint. Human rights defender Alexander Cherkasov claims that Oleg Orlov* is being subjected to inhuman treatment.

Oleg Orlov* caught a cold due to the conditions in which he has to stay while traveling to court and in the very court premises, where he sometimes spends a whole day in a guard room because the court staff are not able to provide him with work with materials. At the same time, the judge continues to require daily trips to court, the “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence** reports.

Oleg Orlov* wrote a complaint that he needed medical help. However, due to his daily trips to court, he cannot even get to a medical officer at the SIZO, as he is usually taken out of his cell before breakfast and brought back at night. Due to problems with a runny nose, Oleg Orlov* began to hear much worse.

In addition, the advocate of Oleg Orlov* has not been able to have a confidential conversation with him for two weeks and thus cannot help him prepare for the appeal. “The guards in courtroom ... forbade speaking ‘irrelevantly’ and read every document that the advocate and his client hand over to each other,” the “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence** reports on its Telegram channel.

It should also be noted that on March 11, the defence filed an appeal against the verdict to Oleg Orlov*.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.

**As reported on the website of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the reason for including on March 1, 2024, the unregistered “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence (CHRD) into the register of foreign agents was the spread of “inaccurate information aimed at creating a negative image of the Russian Federation, as well as the Russian Armed Forces.”