Moscow court overturns fine imposed on head of human rights group Memorial

A Moscow court has overturned a lower court’s decision to fine the chairman of Memorial, the Nobel Prize winning Russian human rights organisation, for “discrediting” the army, independent news outlet Mediazona reported Thursday.

The court sent the case against Oleg Orlov back to the prosecutor’s office at its request.

In October, Orlov was fined 150,000 rubles (€1,525) for repeatedly “discrediting” the army in an anti-war article he wrote in which he called Putin’s Russia a totalitarian fascist society. The prosecutor’s office subsequently appealed the relatively lenient decision and requested a custodial sentence of three years for Orlov instead.

A court order banning Orlov from leaving the country remains in force.