Nobel laureate Oleg Orlov is being subjected to cruel and degrading treatment by Russian prison authorities and his health is deteriorating, the Russian human rights group Memorial said on Thursday, according to Reuters.

The leader of “Memorial” and one of the laureates of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, Orlov, was sentenced last month by a Moscow court to two and a half years in prison for “discrediting the armed forces” of Russia.

He was put on trial by the prosecutor’s office after he participated in demonstrations against the war in Ukraine and published an article in which he wrote that Russia had become a fascist country.

His lawyers filed an appeal against the decision of the first instance.

The “Memorial” group said on Wednesday that Orlov’s health is deteriorating due to a strict diet of “dry rations” to which boiled water is added.

He is also forced, by order of the judge hearing the case, to travel between the detention center and the court every day in order to review the documents necessary for his appeal. Memorial says he is being transported in an unheated police van with exhaust fumes.

Orlov’s lawyers accuse that they do not have regular access to him and that the meetings are monitored, which violates the confidential nature of the relationship between the client and the lawyer.

The Nobel laureate’s legal team fears for his life

“Orlov’s constant trips to the court, as well as the conditions of transportation and accommodation during the trips, taken together, are cruel and degrading treatment and violate Orlov’s rights,” says the official complaint submitted to the court and published on his website lawyers Memorial site.

“The situation that has developed causes me serious fears for the health and life of my client,” – notes one of Orlov’s lawyers, quoted in the complaint.

The memorial, founded in 1989, documented human rights violations from the Stalinist dictatorship to the present day and defended freedom of expression, focusing on identifying and honoring individual victims.

70-year-old Orlov was one of the leaders of the human rights group for two decades. The Supreme Court of Russia dissolved the Memorial organization on December 28, 2021, outlawing it at the end of a year marked by repression against dissidents and public organizations in the country.

Earlier in March, representatives of “Memorial” reported that Orlov, despite his age, was asked to sign a document about his readiness to fight in Ukraine during detention.

As “Memorial” reports, Orlov laughed at this request and wrote on the document that he “does not agree.”

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