As they were transferred from different prisons in Russia’s vast prison system, Oleg Orlov had a mission: to find out how many political prisoners each facility held.
The veteran dissident, released in August in the largest Russia-West prisoner swap since the Cold War, knew about the lists.
His Nobel Prize-winning rights organization Memorial has painstakingly documented the names of those jailed for condemning Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The 71-year-old man was one of them: he was sentenced to 2.5 years for speaking out in an article against the military strike.
But what they found left them in no doubt: There are “much more” political prisoners in Russia than rights groups admit.
Apart from the known cases, “in every jail, I found that there were a number of people for whom there are grounds to count that they are in jail for politics,” he said.
“We didn’t know anything about them.”
Now free and living in Berlin, his life’s goal is to get them out.
Forced into exile after never planning to leave Russia, Orlov fights for his freedom, his mind focused on those left behind.
He often thinks about a cellmate: Alexey Malyarevsky, 29, who was jailed for putting up posters condemning the sentencing of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
“He got seven years. A young man…,” Orlov said.
“The feeling is shocking: I’m here and he’s there.”
Disappointment
Orlov managed to avoid “all conflict” in prison and tried to talk to everyone, intending to find those he thought could be considered political prisoners.
“There is contact between cells, even if they try to limit it,” he said.
He noted how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has transformed its vast penitentiary network, with prison officials trying to “recruit virtually everyone” to fight in the war.
He laughed when he remembered how the guards had tried to recruit him too.
“I said to them: Do you understand how old I am and why I’m here?”
The issue divided the prisoners and Orlov took part in the convicts’ discussion of whether it was worth fighting in exchange for their freedom – if they survived.
Most of those who joined, he said, did so out of desire for a “clean biography and money” rather than out of patriotism.
He also met jailed deserters: three men told him that most of their unit had been killed and, facing almost certain death, they had decided to escape.
Orlov said he was “psychologically traumatized” and, facing a major sentence, considered returning to the front to try to regain his freedom.
“It’s a complete disappointment,” he sighs.
want to go to ukraine
Now that he is free, Orlov also has another desire: to travel to Ukraine to see the war he condemned with his own eyes and document the war crimes.
“I hope it will be possible,” he said.
He has described war crimes before and has devoted a large part of his work to the Chechnya wars.
“I would like Russian rights defenders to be able to visit Ukraine,” he said.
“I think it is very important for Russian rights defenders to get involved in the work of documenting this war crimes, and for Russian rights defenders to do the same.”
He did not say what stage the plans were in and it was unclear whether Ukraine would allow it.
Orlov has condemned the invasion since the day President Vladimir Putin sent troops in 2022.
He rejected the notion of overwhelming popular support for the war in Russia, but also said that this is not just “Putin’s war” and that many Russians are behind the invasion to enrich themselves.
He said, “It cannot be denied that a significant part (of society) – not a majority but a notable part – are beneficiaries of the war.”
be stunned
As he travels through European cities, Orlov often blinks and thinks he is seeing a Moscow street – yet he cannot believe what has happened to him.
About 10 days before his release, guards asked him to sign a request for presidential pardon, which he declined.
He was then woken up at dawn, told that he was being transferred and put in a prison van.
“The doors opened. I was stunned. I thought I would see a penal colony but I saw Samara airport,” Orlov said, referring to the southern city of Volga.
On the flight to Moscow, he was protected by plainclothes guards.
“It was as if they were my friends: With these big guys around me, I was unscathed.”
After several days in isolation in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, he became convinced there was a new case against him and wrote a complaint about not being allowed to shower.
He waited for several days to hand it over to someone, until a prison official came in.
“I ran to him, so happy that I could hand in my complaint,” Orlov said, “but instead he was told that his sentence had been revoked.”
Soon after, he was on a bus headed to the airport with other political prisoners.
Despite serving time in prison, Orlov said, if he could go back in time, he would still speak from within Russia.
“That’s what I’ll do.”
published – October 21, 2024 12:39 PM IST