A recent post on the website of the Petrozavodsk City Court reports that Yury DMITRIEV’s appeal of 21 December has been forwarded to the Third Cassation Court in St Petersburg. The appeal objects to the decisions handed down by the Supreme Court of Karelia on 29 September: Dmitriev’s term of imprisonment was increased almost fourfold from 3 ½ to 13 years in a strict regime penal colony; and the three other charges were returned to the city court to be re-examined a third time.

The appeal was first submitted by DMITRIEV and his defence lawyer Victor Anufriev on 26 November. Until now the Petrozavodsk City Court has twice rejected the document, claiming it had been improperly compiled.

Meanwhile, the re-examination of the three other charges continues at the city court in Petrozavodsk although the decision to allow the cassation appeal raises doubts about the wisdom of proceeding. The next hearing in that third trial will take place on 24 December at 10.30 am (Moscow time).

The second annulment of the verdict at the appeal stage – this happened after the First Trial on 15 June 2018 – is an exceptional event. So is the quadrupling of the sentence. The case is turning into a very unusual judicial conflict. In all probability, we shall only know what happens next in 2021.