The trial of the head of the Karelian “Memorial” Yuri Dmitriev began in Petrozavodsk

On June 1, the trial of the head of the Karelian Memorial, Yuri Dmitriev, began in the Petrozavodsk City Court. On May 12, the court arrested the historian for six months. The hearing on the case is being held behind closed doors; Dmitriev’s daughter and a support group came to court. The press is not allowed into the hall.

extended Dmitriev's conviction for photographing a minor for the purpose of producing pornographic materials. The victim is his adopted daughter. Before, the historian lived with his de facto wife and adopted daughter Natasha, who was taken from school by representatives of the guardianship authorities on the day of Dmitriev’s arrest.

accused of detention of 11-year-old Lawyer Viktor Anufriev said that Dmitriev did not produce pornographic materials, but photographed the girl once a month to monitor her physical development. I kept the pictures on my computer without publishing them anywhere. According to him, when the girl grew up, Dmitriev stopped taking pictures of her; in 2015 he took a couple of photographs, in 2016 - not a single photograph. The defender added that the stored part of the hunting rifle barrel was unsuitable for shooting.

On March 9, it became known that Dmitriev was charged with Article 135 of the Criminal Code (committing indecent acts without the use of violence) and Article 222 of the Criminal Code (illegal possession of firearms).

brought new charges Yuri Dmitriev is known as one of the discoverers of the largest burial site for victims of political repression in Karelia - the Sandarmokh memorial cemetery. It was a secret NKVD execution site, where more than 9.5 thousand people were shot and buried in 1937–1938. Dmitriev did a lot to discover a number of other cemeteries that became memorial burial sites.

A large journalistic investigation by Alexander (Shura) Burtin about what Dmitriev was doing and how the criminal case arose on the Les website.

published by the media project At the end of November 2016, International Memorial published a directory about the security officers of the Great Terror, which contained data on 40 thousand NKVD executioners who received special ranks of the state security system from the moment of their introduction in 1935 to the beginning of 1941.

According to Irina Korneychuk, who is well acquainted with Dmitriev, after the publication of this directory, Dmitriev received numerous phone calls and threats, and the tires of his car were punctured.

Friends say he expected to be attacked on the street, but it never occurred to him that he could be accused of a crime against his adopted daughter Natasha, whom he took into custody from an orphanage and raised her from the age of three.

At the beginning of December 2016, Yuri Dmitriev was summoned by a local police officer. He was not at home for several hours, after which he discovered that his computer had been accessed.

someoneThe accusations were based on an examination carried out by experts from the ANO "CSE", headed by Natalia Kryukova, a mathematics teacher by training. Under her leadership, nine photographs found on Dmitriev’s computer were recognized as “pornographic.”

Dmitriev and I were notified that the investigation had ordered an examination of the photographs on December 28, as we later found out, by that time it was almost ready,” says lawyer Viktor Anufriev. — According to the law, we had the right to put our questions to the experts, we could speak out about the candidacies of the experts and, in fact, the expert organization itself. But the investigation committed a direct violation of the law, without allowing us to do anything about it,

— says Yuri Dmitriev’s lawyer Viktor Anufriev.

Yuri Dmitriev has spent more than six months in the Petrozavodsk pre-trial detention center. According to the law, Yuri Dmitriev faces up to 15 years in prison.