Karelian historian Yuri Dmitriev's sentence was increased to 13 years in a maximum security colony

The Supreme Court of Karelia considered an appeal against the sentence of historian Yuri Dmitriev in the case of sexual violence and increased his term from 3.5 to 13 years in a strict regime colony. This was reported to OVD-Info in the press service of "Memorial".

It is noted that the court also sent for review the case on the manufacture of child pornography (Article 242.2 of the Criminal Code) and possession of weapons (Part 1 of Article 222 of the Criminal Code), for which he was acquitted.

On July 22, the court found Dmitriev guilty under the article on violent acts of a sexual nature against his minor adopted daughter (clause “b” part 4 of article 132 of the Criminal Code). He was acquitted under articles on indecent acts (Part 3 of Article 135 of the Criminal Code), on the production of pornography (Article 242.2 of the Criminal Code) and on possession of weapons (Part 1 of Article 222 of the Criminal Code), he was acquitted. He was sentenced to three years in prison, but taking into account the time served in the pre-trial detention center, Dmitriev could have been released in November.

Complaints from the defense and charges against the historian's sentence have been considered in the Supreme Court of Karelia since September 16. The prosecution asked to increase the sentence to 13 years in a strict regime colony. Dmitriev's lawyer Viktor Anufriev was in isolation due to illness, but the court refused to postpone the meeting until he recovered and appointed another lawyer for the historian.

• Yuri Dmitriev is the head of the Karelian society "Memorial" and one of the pioneers of the execution pits of the victims of Stalin's repressions in the Sandormokh forest. In August 2018, excavations were carried out there by the Russian Military Historical Society, headed by the then Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky. The purpose of these excavations was to confirm the hypothesis that Soviet prisoners of war who were in Finnish camps were buried in Sandarmokh.
• The persecution of Yuri Dmitriev began in December 2016, when he was detained in connection with the production of child pornography. The case was opened because of the pictures of the naked daughter - the historian himself claims that with their help he simply recorded the physical development of the child for reporting to the guardianship authorities. In April 2018, the court acquitted the historian, but two months later the Supreme Court of Karelia overturned this decision and sent the case back for a new trial. The verdict was canceled after a complaint from the native grandmother of the historian's adopted daughter.