A CD containing two previously unpublished texts by Dmitriev is now available. It was launched in the Karelian capital Petrozavodsk and contains  The Fatherland Remembers Them and Krasny Bor.

As the Social Information Agency [ASI] reports, the launch was organized jointly by the International Memorial Society and Anatoly Razumov, head of the “Their Names Restored” Centre at the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg.

The event on 24 May 2017 was held at the local art centre’s Agriculture Club. Among the participants were: Sergei Krivenko, member of the Presidential Human Rights Council; Irina Galkova, Memorial staff member; Jan Rachinsky, International Memorial Society board member; and Anatoly Razumov, of the “Their Names Restored” Centre. Yekaterina Klodt, Dmitriev’s daughter, was present, as were others who consider the allegations against her father to be fabricated.

The books The Fatherland Remembers Them and Krasny Bor are memorials to the victims of repression. The first deals with those people from Karelia who fell victim to Stalinist acts of repression. The second contains a list of those shot at Krasny Bor, a site of mass execution near Petrozavodsk.

As Anatoly Razumov pointed out, this CD is appearing on the 80th anniversary of the Great Terror which began in 1937. Print versions will become available next year on the 100th anniversary of the Red Terror in 1918.

On 28 May an event to mark the publication of the two books by Yury Dmitriev in CD-format will take place in St. Petersburg, and a later event is planned in Moscow.

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Colleagues, journalists and members of the public have stood up in defence of Yury Dmitriev, a local historian and the head of the Karelian branch of Memorial. Petitions in his support are being addressed to Russia’s human rights Ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova, the Supreme Court of the Karelian Republic of Karelia and the Petrozavodsk City Court, as well as to all concerned citizens.

Dmitriev was arrested on 15 December 2016. The 61-year old is accused of preparation of pornographic photos and illegal possession of the main parts of a fire arm. According to his defence, the photos found on his private computer are not in any way pornographic.

There is a Facebook support group for Yury Dmitriev and  an online anthology of materials (R) published by HRO.org about his prosecution and the campaign in his defence

Translation first published by Rights in Russia, No. 22 (255), 5 June 2017

Translated by Friederike Behr

Published on 25 May 2017 by HRO.org