The Petrozavodsk City Court extended the custody time of local 64-year-old history expert and head of the republican branch of the Memorial Society Yury Dmitriev, accused of making pornography and sexual abuse, for a month. 7x7 was told about this in court.
Thus, Dmitriev is to be held in Pre-Trial Detention Facility No. 1 in Petrozavodsk until July 25. The next hearing in the case of the local history expert is scheduled for July 6.
Yury Dmitriev discovered mass graves of political repressions’ victims in Sandarmokh and Krasny Bor in the late 1990s. In April 2018, the Petrozavodsk City Court declared Dmitriev not guilty in the case on making child pornography (photos of his adopted daughter being naked). The defendant explained that those photos had been taken for the health journal.
Two months later, the Supreme Court of Karelia overturned the acquittal. The case against Dmitriev was reopened; in addition, he was suspected of sexual abuse. In May 2020, the Supreme Court of Karelia refused to release Dmitriev from custody, although the coronavirus was detected in the pre-trial detention facility.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the European External Action Service, the European Union, and the OSCE demanded Dmitriev's release. More than 150 Russian scientists, cultural figures, politicians, and journalists have signed an open letter for the release of the local history expert from jail. More than 400 scientists, artists, and politicians from Europe and the United States have made the same statement.