Russia: 13 years in prison for Yuri Dmitriev, historian of the Gulag accused of sexual abuse

Russian historian Yuri Dmitriev escorted by police after his trial in Petrozavodsk, July 22, 2020. Anton Vaganov / Reuters

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Thirteen years in prison is the very heavy sentence handed down by the Russian courts against Yuri Dmitriev, a historian of the Gulag accused of sexual abuse of his adopted daughter.

Sentenced to three and a half years in prison at first instance, the historian sees his sentence increased on appeal, when he was to be released in the coming months.

The court decision arouses consternation among human rights NGOs who have taken up the cause of the historian and denounced a political trial.

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With our correspondent in Moscow,

It is a hammer blow for Yuri Dmitriev of course, but also for the NGO Memorial which supports the historian, since the beginning of his legal setbacks.

Sentenced to three and a half years in prison in July for facts he has always denied, Yuri Dmitriev had served most of his sentence in preventive detention, and

But with this new decision, the Supreme Court of Karelia agrees with the prosecution, which called for a much heavier prison sentence than that pronounced two months earlier.

The ordeal will therefore continue, for the historian.

" 

 " Irina Galkova of the NGO Memorial told RFI this Tuesday evening.

The human rights organization believes that Yuri Dmitriev is the victim of a political trial, and intends to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Aged 64, Yuri Dmitriev is considered one of the greatest Russian specialists in the gulag.

His research notably led to the discovery of the Sandakhmor site, where several thousand people were executed during the Soviet era.

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