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
Dmitriev 3 (2018-20)*
Disquieting News
On 22 April, the Karelian edition of the Rossiya TV Channel's "Events of the Week" programme included a brief item, mentioning that "this summer" there would be fresh investigations of the burials at the Sandarmokh memorial complex near Medvezhegorsk. https://youtu.be/oE6QUXuuz60 (For those who know Russian, the item begins five minutes into this half-hour broadcast) Periodically, … Continue reading Disquieting News
The charges
Between 1 June 2017 and 5 April 2018, YURY DMITRIEV was on trial in Petrozavodsk charged under Article 242.2 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code (“Use of a minor for the purposes of preparing pornography”) and Article 135 (“Perverted acts without the use of force against a minor”). For further details of these laws and … Continue reading The charges
The Dmitriev Affair 