About fifty people came to the Student Boulevard in Petrozavodsk on July 8 for a mass picket 'In support of the historian Yuri Dmitriev and for Freedom to political prisoners!'. Acquaintances, friends, colleagues, and just those who are worried about the arrested leader of the Karelian 'Memorial' Dmitriev, came out with banners to express their protest against the criminal prosecution of the historian. A civil activist Andrei Litvin was the applicant.
'We have chosen the date of the picket before the next session of the court on July 11. I would like more people to take part in the action, but thanks to those who came,' Litvin said to the correspondent of «7x7».
A well-known researcher of Stalinist repressions, the head of the Karelian branch of the 'Memorial' society, Yuri Dmitriev, was detained in his apartment on December 13, 2016 on suspicion of making pornographic pictures of his adopted daughter. Photos, according to the protection of the historian, were a diary of the girl's health, she was very thin.
On March 9, 2017, new charges appeared: in addition to producing pornographic materials depicting minors, he was charged with Article 135 of the Russian Criminal Code ('Non-violent sexual abuse’) and 222 ('Illegal keeping of firearms').
On May 11, the court extended the term of detention of the historian until October 22, for the duration of the trial. On May 17, Petrozavodsk city court held a preliminary meeting on the criminal case. On June 1, Petrozavodsk city court began the process of the criminal case. On June 22, Professor Lev Shcheglov, doctor of medical sciences, president of the National Institute of Sexology, spoke in court. He assessed the examination of photographs, which formed the basis of the accusation. It was commissioned by the Center for Socio-cultural Expertise. According to Shcheglov, there were no pornographic pictures in Dmitriev's case.
Hundreds of people stood out for him: writers, scientists, public figures, human rights activists, journalists, musicians, artists, Orthodox priests and participants in international days of memory of the victims of the Great Terror. Famous people, such as writer Dmitry Bykov, musician Boris Grebenshchikov, actor Yevgeny Tsyganov, writer Alexander Arkhangelsky, director Andrei Zvyagintsev, made video messages with words of encouragement.
Gleb Yarovoy, «7x7»