Memorial, Russia’s oldest human rights organization, announced that one of its top representatives, Oleg Orlov, was arrested Tuesday in Moscow and charged with “discrediting the Russian armed forces,” CNN reported.

Criminal proceedings have been opened against 69-year-old Oleh Orlov, co-president of the Memorial Center for the Protection of Human Rights, the group reports on Twitter. He was later released on bail.

According to the information of the “Memorial” organization, Orlov’s case was initiated due to the fact of repeated discrediting of the Russian military.

When asked by a journalist why he was detained, Orlov answered: “It is connected with the accusations against me of supporting Nazism. An idiotic idea!”.

Oleg Orlov published on his Facebook page an article he wrote for a French publication in November 2022 entitled “They wanted fascism. They got it.”

“Memorial” was banned in Russia at the end of 2021. Last year, the organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “outstanding efforts to document war crimes, human rights abuses and abuses of power.”

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