Human Rights Defenders

7 July 2020

Lev Ponomarev, chair of the national NGO For Human Rights and member of the Moscow Helsinki Group

Source: Moscow Helsinki Group [original source: Эхо Москвы]

The prosecutor has requested 15 years in a maximum-security prison for Yury Alekseevich Dmitriev, historian, local history expert, human rights activist and the head of the Karelia branch of Memorial. He is accused of a crime he did not commit — violence against his adopted daughter. This is the second attempt now to get Yury Dmitriev in prison using a grave criminal charge. The court acquitted him two years ago. Now, he is being charged with a more serious crime.

Yury Dmitriev is a person of well-deserved worldwide renown. He dedicated his life to searching for the burial sites of victims of Stalin’s political repressions in Sandarmokh and Krasny Bor. There’s every reason to believe that it was precisely this selfless work that was the reason why he has been prosecuted.

The case against Yury Dmitriev, which was absurd and fabricated from the start, is nothing but revenge for an uncompromising civic stance. This case isn’t just a political one. It’s ideological, it’s based on principle. Our history, which Yury Dmitriev studies, has acquired an acutely relevant political significance in recent years. The prosecution of Yury Dmitriev is revenge for Stalin, using Stalinist methods. It’s revenge inflicted by those who sense that their time has come.

The extremely threatening situation concerning Yury Dmitriev is dangerous for all of society and requires a clear and definitive reaction of resistance. Freedom for Yury Dmitriev!

Nikolai Svanidze, historian
Liudmila Ulitskaya, writer
Inna Churikova, People’s Artist of the USSR
Liya Akhedzhakova, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation
Oleg Basilashvili, People’s Artist of the USSR
Chulpan Khamatova, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation
Andrei Smirnov, film director, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation
Dmitry Bykov, writer
Lev Prygunov, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation
Garry Bardin, animator
Aleksandr Filipenko, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation
Natalya Fateeva, People’s Artist of the RSFSR
Andrei Makarevich, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation
Viktoria Ivleva, journalist
Lev Ponomarev, human rights activist
Valery Borshchev, human rights activist
Natalya Evdokimova, human rights activist
Aleksandr Sokurov, film director, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation
Svetlana Gannushkina, human rights activist
Andrei Zvyagintsev, film director
Natalya Tenyakova, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation
Ksenya Rappoport, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation
Iulya Aug, actress, director
Darya Yurskaya, merited artist of the Russian Federation
Elena Koreneva, actress
Viktor Shenderovich, journalist, writer
Alla Bossart, journalist, writer
Anatoly Bely, merited artist of the Russian Federation
Veniamin Smekhov, actor, director, writer
Igor Irtenev, poet
Irina Galkova, human rights activist
Galina Aksenova, PhD in Art History

Translated by Nina dePalma