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Russian Court Ups Prison Sentence for Soviet Gulag Researcher

Charles Maynes

   MOSCOW - A Russian court abruptly increased the sentence of a history
   researcher from three-and-a-half to 13 years in prison -- a move his
   supporters say is the latest in state retaliation over research into
   Stalinist-era atrocities that today's Russian authorities would rather
   forget.

   Yuri Dmitriyev, 64, was convicted of "violent acts of a sexual nature"
   and sentenced to the initial term last July, on charges he touched his
   underage foster daughter inappropriately.

   At the time, the verdict appeared to cap a winding three-year court
   proceeding that saw Dmitriyev held in detention throughout -- in
   effect, giving him a partial victory. Despite the sentence, the
   historian was set to go free this November.

   Yet a closed appeal hearing on Tuesday suddenly overruled earlier
   sentencing guidelines, with the court ruling Dmitriyev should serve out
   an additional 10 years in a maximum security prison.

   Dmitriyev has always denied the sex abuse charges and says they were
   motivated by shifting state attitudes toward his discovery of the
   remains of thousands of prisoners killed during the Great Terror period
   under Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin in the 1930s.

   Dmitriyev's lawyer was unable to attend the hearing due to health
   issues and a court-appointed lawyer was given three days to acquaint
   himself with the sprawling case instead.

   In a letter to friends ahead of the hearing, Dmitriyev said he told the
   court he refused the substitute defense lawyer.

   Memorial, the human rights group with which Dmitriyev was affiliated,
   denounced the harsher sentence as "illegal, unjust, and politically
   motivated."

   "Today's sentencing -- is the revenge of a system that came after the
   Soviets and wants again to betray the silenced names" unearthed by
   Dmitriyev, said the group.

   The U.S. embassy in Moscow also condemned the court's ruling.

   "The Karelian Supreme Court's decision to prolong historian Yuri
   Dmitriyev's already unjust sentence by an outrageous 10 additional
   years is another step backwards for #human rights and historical truths
   in #Russia," spokeswoman Rebecca Ross said on Twitter.

     The Karelian Supreme Court's decision to prolong historian Yuri
     Dmitriyev's already unjust sentence by an outrageous 10 additional
     years is another step backwards for [1]#humanrights and historical
     truths in [2]#Russia.
     -- Rebecca Ross (@USEmbRuPress) [3]September 29, 2020

   On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin
   traditionally did not comment on court decisions but would "more
   attentively become acquainted" with the case.

   Troubling discovery

   The origins of the case date to 1997, when Dmitriyev and two colleagues
   discovered a mass grave of some 7,000 remains in Sandarmokh, a remote
   wooded area in northwest Russia.

   They had uncovered the remains of Soviet political prisoners executed
   by Stalin's secret police at the height of his repression of opponents,
   both real and perceived, from 1937-38.

   "We were searching for those prisoner remains for nine years," says the
   head of Memorial in Saint Petersburg, Irina Flige, in an interview with
   VOA.

References

   1. https://twitter.com/hashtag/humanrights?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   2. https://twitter.com/hashtag/Russia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   3. https://twitter.com/USEmbRuPress/status/1310991683241357312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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