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The historian’s comrades claim that this case was fabricated to silence him.
Yuri Dmitriev, head of the Memorial branch of the famous human rights organization in the northwestern Republic of Karelia, has been searching for mass graves of people killed during the crackdown by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin for several decades and exhuming the remains.
The historian was first arrested in 2016 on child pornography charges and spent more than a year behind bars without trial.
He was acquitted in 2018, but was later arrested again that year and charged with sexual violence.
Prosecutors allege that the 64-year-old historian sexually abused his daughter. Dmitry categorically denies it.
The court in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk will announce the verdict in this case behind closed doors on Wednesday.
Prosecutors are asking the accused to be sentenced to 15 years in prison in a strict regime colony.
Memorial claims that Dmitrijev’s prosecution reflects the government’s efforts to suppress a different opinion.
“There is no doubt that Yuri Dmitrijev is innocent,” the organization said before the verdict was announced.
“The truth about the past is not in line with the state’s historical narrative,” added Memorial.
Dmitryev’s supporters, including several prominent figures in Russian and foreign society, say the case is aimed at punishing a historian who has drawn attention to one of the darkest periods in the country’s history.
Dmitriev helped open the Sandarmoch Memorial in one of Karelia’s pine forests in memory of thousands of victims of the repression of the USSR. Those people were shot in 1937-1938; Many of those killed were foreigners.
The popular Russian actor Venjamin Smekhov has called J. Dmitrijev “one of the best people in our country”.
“Rewrite history”
A group of prominent writers, including Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexeyevich and Jonathan Littell, called the historian “passion in the throat” in a speech to the Council of Europe this year.
“The Russian authorities are seeking to rewrite the history of Sandarmoch by slandering his discoverer and unreasonably accusing Dmitrijev of a horrible crime,” they wrote.
J. Dmitrijev, who was arrested in 2016 and spent more than a year behind bars, was released after a group of prominent public figures called for his release.
In April 2018, the historian was acquitted in a child pornography case, but the higher court overturned the acquittal and was soon arrested again on charges of sexual violence.
The first criminal case against J. Dmitrijev was filed for discovering photos of his naked younger daughter Natalia. They were confiscated during a search of the historian’s home by police officers after receiving an anonymous report.
According to J. Dmitrijev’s lawyers, those photos were taken while observing the condition of a girl treated for malnutrition.
The independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that detainees in the same cell with Dmitrijev last year tried to force him to plead guilty. They threatened the historian that he would otherwise be sexually exploited in prison.
During his second trial this month, Dmitrijev, who was adopted, said he was doing everything possible to keep his daughter healthy and happy.
In a speech published by the independent news portal Medusa, the historian also said that it is very important for people to remember their past.
“The strength of the state is not guaranteed by tanks and weapons, nor by nuclear missiles or the ability to tell everyone to go as far as possible,” he said.
“No, the strength of the state resides in its people,” emphasized the historian.
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