Dmitriev acquitted

Dmitriev faces media after acquittal (April 2018)

YURY DMITRIEV has been acquitted of charges relating to the production of child pornography but, as his attorney Victor Anufriev predicted earlier today, the verdict delivered this afternoon by Judge Marina Nosova imposes conditions, for example, that will restrict the historian’s freedom of movement for some while yet.

The exact terms of these conditions will doubtless be clearer tomorrow. They appear to relate to the classic standby charge of possessing a firearm …

John Crowfoot,
5.50 pm GMT

“Dmitriev will remain free, but …”

Natalia Dyomina asks Dmitriev attorney VICTOR ANUFRIEV what he expects the outcome of the trial will be today, Thursday, 5 April 2018.

“Victor Mikhailovich, what do you expect today?”

“That Dmitriev will remain free, but the form in which this is achieved  could be most varied.”

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Victor ANUFRIEV, Dmitriev’s defence attorney
since December 2016

“What do you think, will the hearing take long today?”

“At least two hours.”

(The hearing is scheduled to start at 3.00 local time and finish by 6 pm.)

“Good luck!”

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5 April 2018

Sandarmokh, 28 March 2018

The day after Xenia At was among a hundred DMITRIEV supporters crowded into the corridor of the Petrozavodsk City Courthouse, she made the trip to Sandarmokh and took these photos.

 

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Late winter in Russia. The snow is still thick on the ground, but the sky has turned from grey to blue.

“I love with you all my heart”: Yury Dmitriev’s Final Word in court

Despite repeated forensic analysis to the contrary, the Russian historian has spent 13 months in pre-trial detention on child pornography charges (writes Natalia Shkurenok).

On 27 March 2018, the final hearing was held in the prosecution of Russian historian and rights defender YURY DMITRIEV. Dmitriev, who has been instrumental in investigating Karelia’s Gulag past, was arrested in December 2016 and charged with producing child pornography, the evidence for which consisted of naked photographs of his adopted daughter.

Yesterday, Dmitriev was given the right to make a final statement before the court, after which the judge left to make a decision. The doors of Room 322 at Petrozavodsk City Court remained closed for 10 minutes. As Yury Dmitriev told the people waiting outside afterwards, instead of a long speech in his defence, he read a short letter from his adopted daughter Natasha.

“Dear Dad, I really miss you!

I hope that they release you soon. Everything is fine with me, I’m studying well. I wish you a belated happy birthday! How are things with you? Write when you can.

I love you with all my heart, your daughter Natasha.”

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