Detention Centre No 1*

“We shall survive” (Dmitriev)

/ editors (JC)

A letter from Yury Dmitriev

Two days after being sentenced to 15 years in a strict-regime penal colony, Yury DMITRIEV wrote to veteran rights activist Lena Sannikova. Recently she published an excerpt on the Facebook page of his supporters:

“In my last words to the court I said I was proud to work with Memorial.

Then I quoted what Varvara Brusilova (1899-1937) said to the Moscow tribunal  after being sentenced to death [she was shot on 10 September that year at Sandarmokh, L.S.]: ‘I regard your sentence calmly: according to my religious beliefs there is no death … and I shall not beg for pardon or mercy’.”

“Don’t worry! We shall survive. All of us are Memorial. We are a nation, and no nation can exist without memory.

“We’ve seen worse times in Russia. We shall overcome!”

from Prisoner Dmitriev (Hottabych)
29 December 2021

Detention Centre No. 1, Petrozavodsk

/ editors (JC)

photo Darya Poryadinova, SOTA TV

This is where Yury DMITRIEV has been held, apart from outings to the courthouse, since June 2018.

During his first trial the measure of restraint was eased during the last six months from custody at Detention Centre 1 to an agreement not to leave Petrozavodsk. If he is convicted next week and the prosecution gets its way it will be a long while before DMITRIEV is a free man again.

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Papa’s feeling better

/ editors (JC)

In a post today on Facebook Katerina Klodt writes that she visited Yury DMITRIEV yesterday at Karelia’s detention centre No. 1 in Petrozavodsk and says he’s feeling better:

“As always, he isn’t used to complaining. Sends his best to everyone and says not to lose heart,” she writes, adding “we had a very good conversation.”

“I don’t need anyone’s pity”

/ editors (JC)

Today [14 December] we received a letter from DMITRIEV (writes Natalya Dyomina). He says he’s reading the case materials. There are 20 volumes, and he gets through 1½ to 3 of them a day.

“I still have to read about a third of the case materials. Hopefully, I’ll be able to finish them all next week. … The whole day is spent reading and by the evening I can’t write a sentence without using obscenities!” Things are fine with him, he says: his health is no worse than might be expected from someone his age.

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