“Displays an acute sense of justice”: Prosecutor requests psychiatric examination for Memorial co-chair

The state prosecutor of Memorial co-chair Oleg Orlov, who is being charged with repeat “discrediting” of the Russian army for an anti-war online post, has requested a psychiatric examination of the defendant.

Prosecution counsel Svetlana Kildisheva argued that Orlov may need psychiatric help because of his “acute sense of justice and complete lack of self-preservation instincts.”

“After all, Your Honor, there’s the age factor to consider: changes in cerebral blood vessels, the natural process of aging. [...] I’m not a doctor, of course, but he certainly has some kind of health issues,” said Kildisheva. Memorial quotes her in its Telegram channel.

Subsequently, the prosecutor asked to find Orlov guilty and punish him with a fine of about $2,500. His defense insists that the prosecution has failed to single out any specific statement made by Orlov as the criminal act or even provide the definition of “discrediting”: the prosecution experts make attempts to encroach into the legal domain while using a definition they borrowed from Wikipedia.

The expert examination of Orlov's case was conducted by math teacher Natalia Kryukova and translator Alexander Tarasov. They also authored the expert examination report that led to the liquidation of the Memorial Human Rights Center. As journalists previously confirmed, they hold no expert competencies or credentials.