Week-ending 15 October 2021
On 13 October 2021 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation refused to hear an appeal by human rights activist and historian of the Gulag Yury Dmitriev against his 13-year sentence for alleged child abuse. The Court’s website carried the announcement: “Refusal to transfer the case for consideration in the session of the court of cassation,”
Sources:
The Moscow Times, 13 October 2021: Russia’s Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from prominent gulag historian Yury Dmitriyev, who has been jailed twice on charges of sexually abusing his adopted daughter, the court said Tuesday. Dmitriyev, 65, is currently serving 13 years in prison following a prosecution that critics say is politically motivated and based on fabricated evidence. Dmitriyev denies the charges against him. The historian is lauded for his work uncovering mass graves and identifying thousands of victims of Soviet repressions in northwestern Russia’s Karelia region.
RFE/RL, 13 October 2021: Russia’s Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of gulag historian Yury Dmitriyev, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison after being found guilty of sexually abusing his foster daughter. The decision was announced on the court’s website.
Human Rights in Ukraine, 14 October 2021: Russia’s Supreme Court has refused to refer the case of Yury Dmitriev for a cassation review despite glaring procedural irregularities and violations of his right to a fair trial. This was the last chance, at least in a Russian court, of achieving justice and averting what is likely to become a death sentence against the world-renowned historian and head of the Karelia branch of Memorial. Dmitriev played an inestimable role in naming victims of Stalin’s Terror, and its perpetrators, as well as in uncovering the mass graves at Sandarmokh. His persecution has coincided with attempts by the current regime in Russia, under President Vladimir Putin, to ‘rewrite’ the history of the Terror and to minimize the scale of the crimes.
