A Russian court has extended the prison sentence of a prominent historian and activist as part of a sex abuse case that critics have condemned as politically motivated.
He was sentenced to 13 years, but had two more years added to his sentence. The man was found guilty of sexually abusing his daughter. He denied the allegations.
In late 2016 he was arrested on child pornography charges, but was acquitted. He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison after a second criminal case was opened against him. His sentence was increased to 13 years last year before he was to be released.
Supporters and critics say the charges against Dmitriev are fabricated and punishment for uncovering mass graves from the Stalin-era containing the bodies of people held in Soviet prison camps. Stalin engaged in a campaign to destroy anyone perceived as disloyal or a threat to his rule during the Great Purge. At least 750,000 people were killed during this period.
The US embassy in Moscow decried the extension of Dmitriev's sentence as another step backwards for human rights and historical truths in Russia.
The UN has condemned Russia over the treatment of Dmitriev, who has been praised by human rights groups for his work.
A group of UN human rights experts said in February that the Russian authorities had sought to silence Mr. Dmitriev by attacking his personal integrity and the legitimacy of his historical work. They are preventing millions of family members from finding out what happened to their loved ones, because of this.
The Russian authorities are attempting to prevent legitimate research and to re-write the history books to downplay the extent of the crimes committed during the Great Purge, not only because they are failing to uphold the right to truth owed to the victims, their families and to the larger society, but also
May 21, 2021.
Memorial human rights group is a Moscow-based group that has spearheaded efforts to document crimes against humanity in the Soviet Union. The group was founded in the late 1980s and is being threatened by the Russian government. The charges were dismissed as politically motivated by Memorial.
Experts say that Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to whitewash Joseph Stalin's crimes against humanity.
Anne Applebaum wrote in The Atlantic that Memorial employees are regularly questioned and investigated by police. Dictators distort the past because they want to use it. Putin wants to stay in power. Russians have less reason to fight against the new dictatorship if they are nostalgic for the old one. He might want to use the past to give legitimacy to violence.
Putin said in an interview that demonizing Stalin was a way to attack the Soviet Union and Russia. Putin said that he was against forgetting the horrors of Stalinism. The majority of the citizens of the former Soviet Union admired Stalin, according to Putin.
