Yury DMITRIEV was first arrested on 13 December 2016, a date that marks the formal beginning of The Dmitriev Affair. Its roots go deeper and further back in time, naturally. Over two years earlier, at the annual Day of Remembrance at Sandarmokh on 5 August, Dmitriev made critical comments about the annexation of Crimea and … Continue reading Second Time Round …
Human Rights in Ukraine
Russia arrests second historian of Stalin’s Terror
It is becoming dangerous in Russia to investigate the crimes of Stalinism, writes Halya Coynash. A second Karelian historian, Sergei KOLTYRIN has been arrested and is facing charges almost identical to those now brought against political prisoner, Yury DMITRIEV. Sergei Koltyrin While the possibility cannot be excluded that there are real grounds for these new … Continue reading Russia arrests second historian of Stalin’s Terror
Politically-motivated excavations
Russia has turned to politically-motivated excavations to rewrite the history of the USSR in the late 1930s, writes Halya Coynash, after jailing a major historian of Stalin's Great Terror yet again. A new attempt to rewrite the history of the Great Terror in the Soviet Union appears to be under way in Russia. This renewed … Continue reading Politically-motivated excavations
Dmitriev re-arrested
YURY DMITRIEV has been arrested less than two weeks after a court ordered his retrial on gravely flawed charges, reports Halya Coynash. He was stopped by police in Karelia after leaving Petrozavodsk to visit the grave of a friend who died just before his first arrest. The renowned historian and head of the Karelia branch … Continue reading Dmitriev re-arrested
Political Trial reinstated
A rare moment of justice from a Russian court has proved all too fleeting, writes Halya Coynash. On 14 June, Karelia’s High Court overturned the acquittal in April of world-renowned historian Yury Dmitriev and sent the ‘case’ back for retrial. Dmitriev’s imprisonment and trial had been widely viewed as politically-motivated persecution, and his acquittal – … Continue reading Political Trial reinstated
The Dmitriev Affair 