Alexander Chernyshov was arrested for trying to take the archives of Memorial’s Perm Branch out of Russia. The prosecutor has requested a 3-year imprisonment for the employee of the human rights organization, as reported by Memorial on April 3rd.
The verdict in the case of Alexander Chernyshov will be announced on April 4. He is being accused of an attempt to 'smuggle cultural objects,' namely the archives of Memorial’s Perm Branch. Robert Latypov, the former head of Memorial in Perm, facing similar charges, has left Russia.
As per the prosecutor, Chernyshov has pleaded guilty.
Chernyshov was arrested in May 2023 before his departure to Turkey. He said that he and Latypov planned to take boxes with documents to Germany. Latypov asserted that the boxes did not contain any historical papers, only the organization’s internal documentation.
According to the 'Mediazona' media outlet, the document examination revealed 30 papers of historical and cultural value. Their estimated cost is 380,000 rubles (about 4,120 USD).
Following Chernyshov’s arrest, Perm Center of Historical Memory ceased its activities.