Oleg Orlov, leader of the human rights group Memorial, was sentenced last month to two and a half years in prison. He was transferred to pre-trial detention center No.
5 in northwest Moscow on March 11. Almost immediately, he was asked to sign a form saying he was willing to participate in Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. Tens of thousands of Russian prisoners have been conscripted to fight in the Russian army or as mercenaries in Ukraine since the war began just over two years ago.